Raven Chatter
by Eisenstein
Summary: During the Chunin Exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.   But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to undermine the Sannin's influence? And just *knows* many secrets?
1. Part 1  Forest Flight

AN: Ookay, reading Naruto fanfictions for weeks straight can have unexpected side effects... such as thinking about _**Sasuke**_, of all things, in a 'let's make it all better' scenario...

If anyone is wondering about choppy conversations, the first few scenes mostly play out as canon. The further I get away from canon, the more detail you can expect.

Oh, and just to be thorough: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, _italicized_ segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.

And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.

oOo

During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.

But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to _undermine_ the sannin's influence? And **knows** things?

oOo

Raven Chatter

The Raven is ancient and wise, but is his advice what you really want to hear?

Part 1: Forest Flight

oOo

Pain...

What... happened?

"_Get up!"_

It burns... but I feel... strong!

_Get up! Do __**something**__!_

What... A scream... Pink- Sakura?

_Go!_

Sakura? Fighting? Who is that beside her? He's attacking her, but why doesn't he move? No... **nothing** moves - No, everything moves, but so... slowly...

_Good. You can move. You can... stop him._

I can **kill** him. Them.

_Stop them. That's enough for now. _

_... Besides, do you really need to be crude? Disabling them without killing shows more control, more skill. _

_Also, what's better, inanimate corpses or fear... and respect?_

Hrn.

_Heh._

"Sakura... who did hurt you?"

oOo

_Enough. The sound girl has given up already. Don't hurt your teammates. Stop._

But the power...

_What about the pain? (Do you __**like**__ pain?) _

Oh well...

_Heh._

_(Oops, he's out again... Damn, this seal is really, really freaky. Especially from __**here**__...) _

oOo

Finally they had found a place to rest. In spite of the stress and shocks from earlier, they caught a bit of sleep, trying to alternate keeping watch.

Sasuke looked out into the darkness, while Sakura slept like a log, apparently for the first time in two or three days by what she had told, and the slacker – Naruto - snoring in his annoying way.

_Calm. Stay calm. Order your thoughts. Think in whole sentences._

Ordered thoughts, whole sentences... (Why am I telling myself...) WHAT THE...?

"_Ah, I see you finally noticed."_ Suddenly, the subliminal line of thought turned into a literal voice, apparently male, but he had no idea where it came from. It seemed to be all around, like Zabuza's in the mist – no, like from inside him!

"What?" Sasuke jerked and looked around – both Sakura and Naruto looked still asleep.

"_Shh, try not to speak aloud, or they'll wake and think you've gone insane."_

Sasuke focused and tried to follow the unknown voice's hint. If he himself hadn't been so tired and wired simultaneously, he might have reacted with more suspicion, but he literally was too burnt out to care. Paranoia takes energy.

And I haven't?

"_I don't think so, but on the other hand I'm a voice in your head, aren't I?"_ The humorously voiced comment was accompanied by the distinct sensation of amusement. Practically a tactile grin, however that could be possible. Disturbing.

Very funny.

"_Ah, you __**do**__ have a sense of humor, do you?"_ Sasuke got a sinking feeling from the teasing tone.

Don't tell me you think what the **slacker** does is funny.

"_Actually..."_

Oh no.

"_... sometimes."_

Phew.

"_Okay, seriously. I see you noticed correctly these impulses didn't come from yourself. Good. I see there is some truth in calling you a genius."_

Hrn.

"_Sentences, please. I can't comprehend you very well if you just grunt even in your own thoughts. All I get is an... impression."_

I just didn't feel like it. Okay, who are you and how do you talk to me... inside my head? Genjutsu? Or an air technique? Who cares, just get out!

"_No, not an air technique. I am just a voice in your head, seriously. I can't get out, so for now you're stuck with me. But no, as far as I can tell you are not yet insane – at least in regard to me."_

Stuck with you? No way! Then who are you? This... Orochimaru? (Your voice doesn't sound like his... Not _yet_ insane? A twinge of paranoia – but not enough to follow up – yet.)

"_Blech! No, I'm not the reptilian creep (with the pedophiliac subtext)! Unlike him, I will aid you. And a name... I dunno. Call me whatever you like, if I like it too I'll accept it."_

No name?

"_None you could work with. I'm just a whisper, an echo, someone fluttering around in your mind and picking a bit at it. And I __**know**__ I'm not an insanity of yours because I know things I know you don't know, __**can't**__ know."_

Sasuke felt some irritation at that. "Know what?" he whispered.

"_Well, to start with I know a few things about the snake and what he put on your neck, how about that?"_

A shiver went up Sasuke's spine. The power he had felt... even if it was painful, wasn't that a bearable price? And Orochimaru had hinted at, promised, more power... A piercing burn bit in his neck, as the seal flared up at the thought, driving a hiss through his teeth.

"_Whoa! Down, down, stop that!"_ the voice practically yelled. _"Hey – cool, it works."_ Suddenly, the pain flickered and lessened.

"_Phew. Okay, lesson one. The seal – oh yes, what Orochimaru put on your neck is called a curse seal – reacts to certain of your emotions, the darker ones primarily. Anger, hate, fear, greed, these are the easiest to ignite it. It is supposed to be a shortcut to quick power, or at least a hint of power. But the creep gave you an incomplete one. It flares up too easily and generally has most of the disadvantages and only a part of the so-called advantages it might give. Fortunately I seem to dwell practically __**in**__ your chakra, so I actually can see it working from here, managed to literally beat it down a bit just now, kind of, and it even __**looks**__ disgusting from here. I don't think you want to know what this thing is made of and tries to do to you,"_ the voice gave a retching sound, _"at least not right now. Try to keep yourself under control."_

Just that thought took quite a bit of fire out of the thoughts of power. Just the voice's **tone** implied this 'curse seal' – where had Sasuke heard the label before? Had he at all? – was something nauseating, like a leech or a tapeworm, inside his body, polluting his chakra and its coils, practically his soul! – as much as he believed in a soul, at least. Sasuke had **felt** the disgust, just like the amusement earlier.

No, I want to know right now what this thing does. Tell me.

"_Very well. It gives you an enormous temporary burst of foreign raw chakra and brute physical power, while at the same time it screws with mind and emotions, debiliates your fine control and finally cannibalizes your own body, chakra and mind to power itself. The dark chakra burns, the damage to your body hurts you. _

_It turns you into an insane berserker who won't live long enough to accomplish anything worthwile, and after each burst of power your normal self will be depleted and in pain."_

Sasuke shuddered. Even if the voice seemed to somewhat - overstate this seal's workings, its disgust, scorn and contempt for it felt genuine – and infectious. No, that thing didn't seem an acceptable way to get power.

Can you keep it down? ... help me control it?

He forced himself to actually _request_ _help_, something he rarely – if ever – asked for or even admitted the need for to himself.

Going by the surprise in the voice's reply, it hadn't expected him to do so either.

"_I'll try. But I don't think I can stop it if it fully activates. If you get to the tower in time you should look for someone able to suppress it as soon as you can. Your teacher might know someone, if he can't do it by himself. _

_Blech, I guess the snake creep just tried to get his hooks into you for later."_

What do you mean?

"_He worked like a drug dealer. You know about that concept? Offer the 'customer' a free sample to get them hooked, then, when they come to you for more, profit and squeeze everything you can get out of them and once they have nothing left to offer, drop them like a hot potato and let them rot in the gutter. You understand?"_

Y... yes.

Sasuke felt as if dumped in cold water. _That_ was the true purpose of the seal?

He never would have thought about it in that way. While he wasn't really familiar with the concept, it was easy enough to understand.

Using and manipulating someone to be a resource, a tool, that was no new concept to him. Naruto had cried a few rivers about what the younger missing-nin in wave had said about himself – Haku, yes, that was the name – not that _he_ would admit to listening to the slacker.

Sasuke, in a way, had thought it fitting for those who held no goal of their own, no will for themselves, to be used that way, as a tool, a resource, not a person. He was an Uchiha. He could easily imagine using others that way. In a way he had done it before – or tried to.

He never had thought it could be **himself**. Never.

**He** had the goal. To take revenge. **He** had the desire. **He** wasn't a tool. Not **him**.

The seal flared, the spike of pain driving the lesson home.

"_But that's not quite true, either, is it? You __**are**__ supposed to be a tool, a weapon. Just for your village, not a single person."_

Gaah. Sasuke flinched. He had focused too strongly, and forgotten that damn voice in his head could apparently listen in. Embarrassing.

"_Heh. Don't worry. It's not as if I could tell anyone else the Uchiha genius has a few buttons to push, could I now? Actually, I don't think I would need to. That boy there, and your teacher, I think they understand you better than you think – or than you want them to. But that is a part of it anyway,"_ the voice slowly pondered.

"_The difference is the underlying purpose. To be __**shinobi**__, ninja, means to be a soldier, that is true. But there are differences between Konoha and Orochimaru – or Zabuza, for that matter. No one in Konoha who matters expects you to just be a weapon without question – well, except maybe Danzo, but he doesn't matter now."_

Who's Danzo? I think I heard the name before, but I can't remember right now...

"_One of the Hokage's advisors. An old man, a warhawk, stubborn and controlling, aggressive in his goals and methods. I could tell you about him later, but for now you don't need to know more._

_The point is Konoha – or at least the Sandaime - expects you to be loyal because you should believe in the ideals, goals and methods of the community as a whole, as far as that goes. Not blind loyalty because that's all you know or are allowed to, but belief in and the will to protect what it stands for. As far as I can tell, Konoha doesn't want or need fanatics, slaves or unthinking machines, but living, breathing, thinking people with heart and will to __**care**__ about what is precious to them. People, land, ideals. Orochimaru expects __**personal**__ loyalty. Zabuza did so too, but I think there was more to it than just that... pity they died. Gah, and now I've become a political preacher. Sorry. I guess that sounded pretty heavy-handed, didn't it?" _

Bah, no worse than some of the academy teachers. Though, I have to admit, to have a voice in my own head repeating it has a bit more impact.

Sasuke smirked.

"_Heh."_ The voice sounded a bit sheepish. _"And I'm not even __**from**__ your Konoha." (Literally...)  
><em>

Where **do** you come from, anyway? And who or what are you? I thought you were a part of this... curse seal, but you don't seem to even like this Orochimaru.

And that name sounds somewhat familiar, as if I heard it before...

"_I think you did, in the academy history lessons. If you point it out to her, I think Sakura would know more. She __**is**__ quite good with academic knowledge, isn't she?" _

Hrn. And not much else. Though, when I woke...

"_Yeah. She tried her best and got quite the wake-up call I'd say. Okay, she is an annoying fangirl, but if you could wean her from it she could become so much more. She reminds me a bit of others I have seen – she just wants to be acknowledged. If you start taking her seriously, you could get her to take __**herself**__ serious and grow. It's a risk but you could do much, much worse."_

Relationship advice now? No thanks.

"_Bah, you __**are**__ a kid still. Hey, you lot are what, twelve? Thirteen at most? Much too young for anything serious. The girls __dream__ about half-baked ideas of romance, and you not even that._

_I can tell all she wants and needs is someone to confirm her existence. Someone to be with, to talk to regularly... and maybe kiss and cuddle a bit, not much more. Oh, and someone to brag about, right. Heh, that's all your own mistake, being such a fangirl bait," the voice snickered. _

Sasuke felt somewhat pissed off. Hey!

"_Doesn't make it less true. One of the great mysteries about girls – the less you want them, the more they throw themselves at you and in reverse. Just look at Naruto. Or Kiba maybe."_

At that, both Sasuke and the inner voice had to grin.

"_But seriously, once he gets over his crush on her and matures a bit I can predict some __**serious**__ changes."_

Naruto? Mature? Yeah right.

"_Don't dismiss the idea. You have more in common than you want to admit, but where you dwell on your pains he masks his. You hide **in** your pain. He fights his by lighting fires around it, even if he doesn't consciously know it. But at the moment you __**all**__ are still kids. I know you all have some tough issues to work through, but if you do it right you all have a lot to look forward to. On that matter, I know you would rather bust your knuckles on a tree than think about that but - do you like Sakura at all?"_

No!

"_Why, or rather, why not? Think about it, I want to hear valid arguments."_

A storm of unordered thoughts burst through Sasuke's mind, incomprehensible to his inner guest. It took several minutes to order his thoughts again, and afterwards the voice prompted him to list pros and cons and dissected his points thoroughly.

"_So, in short, she is familiar because she is your teammate, shows occasionally if rarely a bit of promise but generally annoys the hell out of you more than Naruto. She looks good, but most of your other fangirls do so too."_

Hrn.

"_You know, if you put a bit of effort in it, you could try to change both of them to be more palatable."_

And why should I make that effort? I don't care either way.

"_Because if you don't you'll have to deal with years of annoyance? You are a team. You'll have to work together for some time."_

Bah, they'll get themselves killed soon enough.

"_And if one of them dies, your mission probably has failed also. And even if **you** survive, if anyone can pin __**any**__ responsibility on you, your reputation is dead and your career is practically over. No one would want to have anything to do with a disloyal loser who killed his own team off, would he? Or with a creep who would associate with one, either..."_

All right, I get it.

"_I hope so, but I doubt it. Hey, remember, you are 'the last Uchiha', ne? You are the only one who is left to stand for your clan. If you think about 'your pride as an Uchiha', remember that. What do you think your clan stands for?"_

Somewhat shocked and unfortunately unable to ignore the voice or dismiss it as irrelevant, Sasuke tried to shape a statement.

Pride/Power/Superiority... was all he could come up with.

"_Oh yeah? And that is supposed to be something to be proud of? Really? In that case, good riddance."_

DON'T YOU DARE... Sasuke exploded mentally, almost priming the seal again.

"_I DARE!"_ the voice thundered, loud enough to make Sasuke flinch and hold his head in imagined pain.

"_Yes, the Uchiha were powerful. The public saw them using their power to protect them. Yes, they were proud and thought themselves superior, because they were an __**influential**__ power in the __**village**__ they co-founded__! Without the village, without the __**people**__, the simple, common people, of Konoha the Uchiha would have nothing __**to be proud of**__, no one to acknowledge them at all! – Notice a theme, by the way? – The Uchiha were expected to protect, to guard, to defend. They practically __**were**__ the freaking __**military police**__! They earned respect by their deeds. All you have is respect by association. Except for –maybe- the wave mission you by yourself have__ done __**nothing**__ yet to __**deserve**__ the respect of the village above your peers, to be __**rightfully**__ proud of. If you want to be proud to be an Uchiha, then __**earn**__ the right to be proud! __**Earn**__ the respect you believe you deserve! And be proud of the things that __**deserve**__ pride! As you are now, the only ones who give you respect are those who __**don't**__ know you, and that is an empty respect. Grah! As you are now, I respect your teammates more than you, yes, __**even Sakura**__! At least she wants something positive."_ The voice broke off, panting angrily.

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!

Sasuke held his head, trying to block out the accusing sermon, but the voice wasn't done, not by a long way.

"_Damn, someone should have hammered this into your head already __**years**__ ago! Instead they just fed you that crap about Uchiha being better, nobler, superior, deserving all they were given just because it should be your gods-given __**right**__. Get a grip, boy, there __**are no rights**__. You have to __**deserve**__ what you are given, otherwise you are just a dead weight hanging on the good will of others. Which is nothing to be proud of. Get that, boy? You are __**not**__ innately superior to everyone else. You have to __**work for it**__. Yes, you have the heritage of the Uchiha, the Sharingan and probably good genetics, but that is only a starting point. Yes, your clan was wiped out. Boo hoo. And all you can think about is taking revenge, pushing everyone away because that's your __**only**__ thought. And everyone who knows feels so sorry about it and treats you like a raw egg. You know what happens to a raw egg that just sits there? It goes bad, useful for nothing than raising a stink or poisoning someone. Do you want to be a stupid stink bomb, Sasuke? A bad egg hatches no chick, you know. GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND STOP TRYING TO BLOCK ME OUT!"_

NO NO NO NO...

"_(Gods damn it)," _cursed the voice in a rather low volume. _"(Stupid, stupid, stupid... he's not ready for that yet. I shouldn't have exploded so easily... But I never expected him to be __**that**__ sensitive. I guess I broke him, now how to fix _that... Only one thing to do, I hope it works... Damn, got to keep the seal tamed too...)"

While Sasuke wallowed in denial and forced doubt, the voice waited and thought. He couldn't do much, but maybe...

Sasuke began to calm down, as his chakra ebbed and flowed slightly, in rhythm with his heartbeat, subtly slowing down and calming him. A few minutes passed by.

"_Sasuke? Are you okay?"_ the voice calmly inquired.

What... Why... No... Don't talk to me like that...

Sasuke tried to collect his thoughts, but succeeded only half-heartedly. He remembered vaguely the outrage and shock, but it felt like an old dream, only half remembered.

"_Sorry I exploded on you like that."_

What happened...? Why is it all so fuzzy...?

"_Sorry again. I tried to calm your chakra a bit to help you stay calm. Don't force the memory please, it will come back when you can deal with it. We can talk about that another time. Damn. Almost forgot about that. Now we have gotten off track badly. I wanted to tell you some things you need to know __**now**__. Boy, do you have a lot of crap to deal with. Sasuke, the exams..."_

What?

Sasuke switched gears, banishing the hurtful half-memory for now and easily forcing himself to focus on a single track again.

"_I __**know**__ there will be trouble. Keep your eyes open for Kabuto."_

That guy with the cards? The one who failed seven times?

"_Heelloo? Obvious versus hidden? What does Kakashi always say: look underneath the underneath? That guy is a __**plant**__, a ringer, a fake."_

Crap.

"_Excactly. All I say for now is practice acting as if everything were normal. You can be suspicious of him – he would not believe it if you suddenly trusted him anyway – but try to keep secret what I told you about Orochimaru, unless you can believably declare it your own deductions."_

He works for the snake?

"_Heh. I didn't say that yet but good thinking, he is. Just don't let him know that you know. He's more dangerous than he lets on. A lot more. Fortunately he has to hide it completely to maintain his cover."_

Heh. Okay.

"_On the other hand, if you really wanted to screw with both of them you could just fail the exam."_

WHAT? NO WAY! Sasuke jerked up.

"_Just an idea. They want to see you in action, see what you can do. If you robbed them of that you would frustrate them to no end."_

And throw all the crap we had to deal with away? No! I need to show... to know... where I stand!

"_Ah yes, pride. Sorry to be so blunt, but your pride is one of the best handles they could have on you, to use you, to play you like a fiddle."_

I don't care.

"_Do care! Grab your own pride by the tail and use it __**for **__you__, not let them use it **against** you, to control you!"_

I'll think about it. Later. I'm tired.

"_... Later. Okay, poke Naruto awake and get some rest."_

Sasuke did so, the voice finally, thankfully, shutting up.

His dreams were stormy, painful and confusing, gnawing at his convictions and resolve, but leaving an undeniable impression, starting a long-needed change.

oOo

_(Heh, I guess it couldn't be __**that**__ easy. A single heart-to-heart won't be enough. But I'm not going anywhere and if I don't want to he can't just shut me out... I'm in his head. Let's see if I can't get him to wake up and change things. I just have to take care I don't get him killed. I wonder, will this be already cause changes in the preliminaries' matchups? How random are they really?)_

oOo

Good, Naruto was away to catch some dinner. If he had to do it, better without the loudmouth close enough to... interfere. Read 'embarrass them'.

Sakura was busy catalogueing their remaining ressources.

"Sakura?"

"Y-yes, Sasuke-kun?" Surprised by her 'one true love' (yeah, right) actually adressing her by his own will, she flinched a little before immediately paying him all her attention, slightly embarrassed hearing herself sounding almost like the Hyuuga girl.

"That snake nin... he called himself 'Orochimaru'. I believe I heard that name before, but can't remember exactly. Do you?"

"Umm..." surprised again by his request, she pulled herself together and mused.

"Orochimaru... O-ro-chi-ma-ru... OH HELL NO!" she exclaimed in shock as she remembered.

"What?"

Sakura muttered a chain of decidedly unladylike if still understated curses.

"Orochimaru. The Snake Sennin. The Traitor Sannin. Formerly in a team with Jiraiya and Tsunade, all three together known as the _Densetsu no Sannin, _'The Legendary Three Ninja' or just 'The Three (Ninja)'. Sarutobi Hiruzen, our current Hokage, was their teacher before he became the Sandaime (for the first time). They were – hell, as far as we know, are – the strongest ninja of their generation. They got their title during the second shinobi world war, where their team often single-handedly turned the tide of war. According to the histories, they got their title from an enemy Kage himself, Hanzo of... Rain... um, some years ago there was something... the books were a bit frugal with the details, but he turned traitor to the Leaf and fled. Following that event, the other two sannin split up and effectively disbanded. He is registered as a Class S nukenin or something like that. I _really_ should get a current one of these bingo books for us..." Sakura listed, rattling down whatever she could remember and deemed relevant.

"He is considered to have been generally the strongest of the three, a master of countless ninjutsu, and he is called the snake hermit because he has the snake summoning contract as one of his signature abilities – damn, why do I have to remember that _now_ instead of when it would have been _really_ useful? – and has several techniques designed to emulate their abilities, but I guess we have seen that, haven't we? Well, Jiraiya was the toad hermit – brr, why does no one ever have some pleasant creatures as summons? Okay, Kakashi-senseis nin-dogs are somewhat tolerable – who actually was the teacher of the Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage. Tsunade, who left Konoha too, but is not listed as a nukenin either, is known as the strongest kunoichi ever and the greatest medical specialist alive – and as the Slug Princess, yuck. Who the hell wants _slugs_ as their summons?" Sakura shuddered.

"Gah, recalling that stuff makes me _really_ remember why I have given up on looking for info about summoning contracts. Um, sorry, does that help us?"

Sasuke (and his inner voice) looked at Sakura, thunderstruck. _Hot damn!_

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked timidly.

Sasuke shook himself.

_Tell her. Plainly and simply. Just tell her._

The voice had used the last few hours to coach him and persuade him to try.

Shut. Up.

"Sakura... hell, when did you learn all that stuff? That was actually..." he felt as if he had bitten into a lemon. "Amazing."

"Wheee!" Sakura instantly slipped into fangirl mode again. Sasuke had actually _praised_ her! But before she could yell out her 'success', his next remark instantly deflated her again – hard.

"Now if you could be _that_ useful more often..."

"_Now that was just mean. True, but mean."_

You told me to wean her off her fangirl behavior. I'm trying to.

"_Good Luck."_

Thanks, Sasuke thought drily and looked at the pink-haired girl, who stared downward in depression.

"Sakura."

"Snif – yes, Sasuke-kun?" she answered tentatively.

"Sakura, do me a favor and stay serious for a while. I'm trying to tell you something important, but if you just start fawning again you can forget it."

The girl looked up in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Sakura... you and all these other girls continually hound me and try to get my attention. That has to change."

Sakura gulped, perhaps already guessing what was about to come.

"What none of you seem to notice I don't ignore you to play hard to get, I ignore you because I – am – not – interested! And frankly, your squealing and babbling disgusts me."

"B-but... Sasuke-kun..." Sakura's eyes teared up and her lip quivered.

"Sakura, I tried to ignore your behavior but you don't seem to understand, so I'll tell you plainly. Every time you start pushing you push me **away**_. _I can't stand the way you, Ino and all these other girls behave. I. Do. Not. _Want_. A. Girlfriend. Yet. Not you, not Ino, not **anyone**. _Especially_ not a girl who just fawns over imaginary affections and tries to force herself on me. _Especially_ not a girl who is practically a liability whenever we are in danger."

"_Stop, you're overdoing it. Give her some hope now and tell her what you __**like**__ about a girl, if anything."_

I'll try. How did you say I could put it... ah right. Good, she seems to be still listening. Dumbstruck, but still listening.

"If I _would_ want a girlfriend," he tried to capture her eyes and keep her focus on his words, "she should be able to stand beside me, not have to hide behind me or hang like a limpet at my arm. She should be able to be a _partner_, especially if she is – or wants to be – shinobi. Being a female ninja, a kunoichi, doesn't mean _depending_ on ikebana flower-arranging, tea ceremonies, make-up and all that other pretty-girl stuff. That helps if you want to portray – or be - a civilian homemaker, or a useless play-princess. But a partner, a teammate, needs to be someone you can respect. And don't take that the wrong way, but _as you are now_ I can't respect you in that way... yet."

"_Careful now. Push her, but not too hard,"_ the voice coached him. _"The 'yet' was a nice touch, let's hope she noticed but doesn't overreact."_

Quickly, Sasuke continued, following the promptings of his inner voice as well as he could, even if it mostly went against every habit he had built up before. The voice had promised it would have a good chance of having her change – he just hoped it was right.

"Look, Sakura, you just now showed _competence_. Academic competence, not combat, but it's a start. I think when you fought for us against these sound nins yesterday you started to comprehend, and that _was_ battle. That's why I'm telling you this now instead of trying to ignore your antics. I do not care much for looks. I could care less for 'cute'. I start to see what is important in being a team. I care for power and ability. I want someone who can _do_ something in a crisis. Naruto may be an annoying loudmouth, but he fights like a beast when cornered, and it is almost impossible to keep him down. I can respect that about him. Even if I would never admit it to his face." Sasuke smirked and watched Sakura, while staying alert for the menace in orange. A half-sob half-laugh escaped the devastated girl.

A weird mix of facial expressions wandered over her face.

"_The crisis is now. Either she gets it or she snaps and blocks out reality. Let's hope for the first option, otherwise this could get painful."_

What? You didn't say anything about **that**!

"_Oh, didn't I? My bad,"_ the voice teased smugly._ "Worst case, just be ready to dodge. Kawarimi might be a good idea, too."_

I hate you so much right now.

"_Oooh, don' be a hater." _Sasuke blinked at the incomprehensible reference.

He was quite surprised when Sakura, eyes still lowered, suddenly started to chuckle darkly. He tensed, ready to leap for his life – he had seen what Sakura had done to Naruto on occasion – when she suddenly looked up at him, formed a seal and her chakra spiked. "**Kai!**"

Both blinked, for nothing at all happened.

Naruto's distant yell as he caught something made them shudder simultaneously.

Then Sasuke got it. Admittedly with a little prompting from his inner voice.

He raised an eyebrow and caught her eyes. "Sakura, just because I spent half the night preparing this speech and just talked about twice as much to you as I have for the whole last month doesn't mean I'm an imitation or a genjutsu. Don't expect me to repeat all that, especially since the slacker will be back soon. Either you get it or you don't. Do you?"

Sakura's embarrassed face became a faked happy mask bearing a forced smile.

"I... I'm not sure. I... I'm... conflicted right now. I... I have to... think, yes, that's it, think about it..."

"Hrn. Do that. I think you can do that, at least," Sasuke grunted, relaxing back into his usual behavior, prompting a half-bitter, dry laugh from Sakura.

"Che, at least that's familiar again," she blurted under her breath. "Please... keep Naruto busy for a while, I don't think I could deal with his... energy... right now," she half-whispered, before she rose and fled behind a few bigger rocks.

Oh Kami, please tell me I'll never have to do something like that again, Sasuke thought, completely spent.

"_Whoa, I didn't expect that. I guess she is already more able to grow up than I expected. Or it's still the Sound nin attack. That made her grow the first step, and she has not yet had time to fully deal with it. We could have hit exactly the right time for your therapy speech to work as intended."_

Therapy speech?

"_Private joke. You'll see what I mean in the future if you keep your eye on Naruto. Or think about Wave. Hush now, Naruto is coming back and I sense someone else is near. I think we'll meet Kabuto again now. Remember, keep your cool."_

Hrn. I'll do my best.

"_Okay, just be your normal belligerent self then, that should suffice."_

Hey!

The voice just chuckled.

oOo

I hate to be manipulated like a child. Who the hell does this guy think he is?

"_Pff, as if you're one to talk."_

Hey! What's that supposed to mean?

"_Heh, we'll talk about that later, after the preliminaries would be best I think. For now, play along so he doesn't suspect."_

Preliminaries? I thought...

"_This year may be too many participants for the final Exam. If it is so they'll have to quickly eliminate a few more contestants. You'll see. Don't worry too much, just conserve your energy. You are rather close to the deadline."_

Hrn. Great. First we get schooled like small children by this snake bastard and lose days recovering, then we have to hunt for the last scroll while having to deal with this annoying plant, get shown up by Naruto of all things and now a preliminary test fresh from this ordeal. I would rather kick some asses, like Kabuto's...

"_Well, he actually led you towards this Rain group with the scroll you need. He and his boss really want to see you fully in action, don't they? Hehe, and did I mention the final exam, and thus probably the preliminaries, are usually more or less a single-elimination tournament? You'll get to kick at least one butt, unless I'm very mistaken,"_ the – still unnamed – voice mirthfully explained. _"That's why I recommend you focus and don't exhaust yourself too early."_

Understood. But it will be close. Too close. We may not have much choice.

... Thanks for helping with this damn seal, I _did_ notice how close I came a few times to... 'prime' it.

Sasuke felt compelled to admit as much.

"_Yeah. No problem. I can't do much as a voice, but managing your and the seal's chakra a bit is within my power. I guess without me you would be by now rather burned out, in chakra and emotionally, but now you'll be just a bit tired, no worse than the others. Still, as soon as you have the time you'd better talk to Kakashi about that seal. You also should mention a few certain details about the snake... it might become very important."_

I still want to know who and what you are and where you came from, you know.

The voice didn't answer.

oOo

oOo

AN: If Sasuke seems too much OOC, sorry.

Still, consider this: one, he suddenly has a talkative voice in his head who apparently can read/hear any coherent thought he has, so he practically 'speaks' his thoughts, and even if he's usually taciturn, he doesn't _think_ any less than, say, Naruto talks. So he's involuntarily more verbose since he can't help himself to _think_ answers and counterquestions. Two, regarding the loooong talk to Sakura, he got first traumatized and then badgered by the same voice to try that. Who probably prompted most of his words, even if I didn't explicitly and fully describe that (Still, you are welcome to imagine his sore throat afterwards ^^). Three, the voice may understate its ability to influence him.  
>(08. Aug. 2013: Minor Edits)<p>

oOo

Next: Raven Chatter Part Two: Tower Fight, Part One

The Raven is large and powerful, but still mostly a carrion eater. He symbolizes death on the battlefield.

"First Match: Uchiha Sasuke... versus Yamanaka Ino!"

oOo


	2. Part 2 Fangirl Surprise (Tower Fight 1)

AN:

Again, just to be thorough: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, _italicized_ segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.

And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.

oOo

During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.

But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to _undermine_ the sannin's influence? And **knows** things?

oOo

Raven Chatter

The Raven is large and powerful, but still mostly a carrion eater. He symbolizes death on the battlefield.

Part Two: Fangirl Surprise (or: Tower Fight, Part One)

oOo

"Iruka, I need to talk to Kakashi, quickly," Sasuke tried to interrupt.

"I'll see what I can do, but first get in here, you were almost too late, we don't have the time now," Iruka answered while practically shoving Team Seven through the door.

Damn.

"_Nothing we can do now, unless you want to make a scene."_

No. Even if the snake has infiltrated, I want to do the exam and show what I can do.

"_Sigh. Very well, but you __**really**__ need to work on that pride of yours."_

Hrn.

With a final shove, they entered the hall where all the other chuunin hopefuls who were left after the forest were waiting. They took their places and listened to the Hokage's speech.

"I wish we could make them listen _now_," Sakura murmured. "With that undetectable face-changing technique of his Orochimaru could be anyone here we don't know good enough to notice a fake."

"I could _make_ them listen, y'know," Naruto grumbled under his breath.

"And bust the whole exam whether necessary or not. No thanks, slacker, causing a scene would hurt more than help," Sasuke hissed. "I'm not willing to blow my chance at becoming chuunin yet."

(I _need_ to know (and show) where I stand.)

_(Good, he's focused on that now as a way to prove his abilities instead on blind revenge.)_

"... hell yeah," Sakura cursed halfheartedly, not even rising to Naruto's protest. "And we have no proof either, just very strong suspicions."

"Nothing we can do now about that. I hate it, but let's just go with the flow for now," Sasuke ended their whispered conversation.

The short talk to Naruto just before they opened the scrolls had worked surprisingly well. Staying serious and not exchanging insults had been impossibly hard, but rewarding. It made him guess whether the slacker actually had noticed some of the wrongness too? No, he probably was just as tired as they all were and too beat to act up. Rare but possible.

Kabuto is quitting? Damn, I really wanted to kick _his_ butt, too...

Soon the speeches were over and the match-ups started.

_("Okay, the first actual changes in the events – less vocal complaints, and I have successfully distracted Sasuke from brooding over Itachi and his revenge. He hasn't droned about being an 'Avenger' to Sakura, Kakashi didn't come to warn him of the seal – okay, we were a minute later than the first time, but it seems the ripples have started,")_ the voice mused, unnoticed by its host.

oOo

"First Match: Uchiha Sasuke..." as the first display stopped.

_("Well, no change there..."_)

Then the second display stopped too, but not as expected.

"... versus Yamanaka Ino!"

"_Yeehaw!"_ the voice cheered after a second of shocked silence.

"What? Okay, an easy win for me, but why so excited?" Sasuke muttered mentally.

"_Oops. Well, I just got proof of something important. And don't underestimate Blondie, her family techniques can mess up your 'easy win' easily. Now get ready, and just __**look**__ at her face."_ The voice literally **oozed** an evil grin.

Ino just stood there, petrified, a terror-stricken expression on her face.

Sasuke smirked, while Sakura, hurrying upstairs to the viewer's balcony, tried to contain her laughter.

"Hey, Ino," Sasuke said, keeping his smirk and decided to give her a chance. "Are you giving up?"

"B-b-but... Sasuke-kun...," Ino stammered.

"You can just give up, Ino-pig, if you don't want to get bitch-slapped by Sasuke-kun," Sakura yelled.

"So much for dropping the fangirl behavior," Sasuke thought, looking at her in annoyance, only to be surprised when Sakura gave him a sly wink and a smirk worthy of himself, accompanied by an air-punch. "What the hell...?"

"Or you can try to prove you can do more than care for your hair and clothes," she added, still amused, but without her usual rancor.

"_Oh, that's how it is, is it? Verry interresting,"_ the voice purred, confusing Sasuke. _"I hadn't expected her to go __**that**__ far that fast."_

Wait, what?

"*Cough* Ready?" the announcer and referee asked just before Ino could explode with an agitated 'Forehead!' yell. Still shocked, she flinched and took a step backwards.

"But... You can't want to fight me, Sasuke-kun..." she whispered, looking at him imploringly, eyes almost tearing up.

"Oh? Are you giving up then?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, willing to let her if she couldn't be serious.

"Hey, Ino-pig! If you actually manage to beat Sasuke-kun I'll let you go out with him!"

"_Bwahaha! Oh, that's great,"_ laughed the voice as Sasuke sweatdropped and most of the onlookers, including Hayate, followed suit. Gai and Lee instead yelled something about youth being the greatest motivator.

Which actually seemed to work – or maybe Ino decided to take Sakura literally.

"Yes! I'll show you how much I love you by proving I'm worthy to be your true and only love! Get ready, Sasuke-kun, and afterwards we'll live in eternal bliss forever!" Ino yelled, flames flaring up in her eyes and a crazed grin in her face that actually managed to stun Sasuke enough to make him miss Hayate's command: "Then *cough* Start!"

With unexpected speed, Ino shot forwards, hands outstretched in grasping claws.

Sasuke, having completely underestimated Ino's energy, almost froze as she grabbed his shirt and apparently tried to force a kiss on him. The prospect galvanized the last Uchiha into action, quickly breaking her hold and clumsily leaping away from her, still dazed a bit from the surprise.

"Sasuuuukeee!" Ino yelled, a heartbroken expression on her face, actually scaring the boy with her intensity, which surpassed her usual fangirlish behavior notably.

_(Damn, that really can cause an honest __**fangirlphobia**__... how would that be called professionally, anyway?)_

Confused and weirded out he tried to clear his mind. While he didn't really care for the blonde, he still was a bit reluctant to take her physically serious and just hit the girl. Also he was still tired from the grueling events during the forest test and being called out for the very first fight didn't help. So he almost completely missed as Ino dropped her crazed expression and leapt back just as the small powder clouds exploded from his shirt, exactly where she had grabbed his shirt, and he involuntary took a short breath.

He instantly stopped and exhaled again, forcefully, but didn't actually move fast enough as the action caused him to flinch from the pain in his lungs and diaphragm, self-inflicted by suppressing his cough reflex. Ino had a hint of regret on her face as she used his momentary paralysis to hurry through her seals and triggered her mindswitch technique: "_Shintenshin no Jutsu_!"

The Konoha genin in the audience gasped in surprise.

"_Oh Sh..."_

oOo

Ino and Sasuke stood motionless.

Sasuke held his head low, before starting to chuckle.

"He he he he... _Shintenshin no Jutsu_ – success! Sasuke-kun, we'll have so much fun together..." he muttered in girlish excitement.

The audience held a shocked silence. Their thoughts raced.

The blonde fangirl had ensnared the Uchiha? She would win? How was that possible?

These and similar thoughts seemed to run through most of the genin's minds, while some of the teachers and older shinobi nodded in slight disappointment and acknowledged Ino making great use of her acting abilities and capitalizing on Sasuke's overconfidence and distraction.

Sasuke, or rather Ino controlling him, let out a satisfied sigh and hugged him- or herself.

"Well, only one thing left to do. Announcer, Uchiha Sasuke – glark!"

He (she) suddenly retched. Sasuke raised his head and strode forward towards Ino's figure. He raised his hand and pushed the girl's forehead, toppling her like a mannequin.

"... has won, since his opponent can't fight anymore," he stated firmly before raising his face and showing his blazing sharingan eyes to the repeated gasp of the audience.

On the balcony, the Sound team's leader smirked.

Hayate coughed in slight surprise, before evaluating the girl lying limply on the floor. A few heartbeats passed, before he stated: "Fine. Winner: Uchiha Sasuke."

The boy let out a short breath before inhaling deeply and calming his still sore lungs. He let go of the sharingan and Ino, at his feet, twitched.

Several members of the audience sweatdropped, as she rolled over and moaned: "Sasuke-kuun... so strong... so forward... mmmm..."

Sasuke froze, eyes bulging and gasping like a fish for a moment, before he flinched, trying to slip on his familiar uncaring mask and quickly made his way up to the gallery and his team, while some believed to see a slight embarrassed flush on his face.

Sakura met him with a glare. "Sasuke-kuun..."

Naruto, uncharacteristically, only raised an eyebrow - before he lost it and dropped in howling laughter, only broken up by a few indefinite words of pervert fangirls or bastards.

Kakashi seemed to look approvingly at Sasuke before breaking out in giggles.

And Sasuke now held a visible blush – not comparable to Hinata's a few groups away, of course – and muttered: "... not supposed to react that way..."

The Oto jounin just shook his head in disappointment, unnoticed by anyone else.

oOo

Thanks a lot, Sasuke thought darkly.

"_Umm, I'm just as surprised as you there."_ Even the voice seemed embarrassed.

What did you do, exactly?

"_Er, I just distracted her as she controlled you and jump-started your sharingan with a chakra pulse, effectively just pushing her out roughly. A second longer and she would have moved before Gekko declared the win."_

Distracted her – how? Sasuke thought darkly.

"_Ehehe... a metaphorical and virtual slap on her rear... nothing more."_

Both presences decided simultaneously **not** to ponder the implications of the resulting consequences.

oOo

The laughter and teasing would have continued, had not the next match been announced right now: "Second Match: Uzumaki Naruto versus Zaku Abumi!"

"Ne, Sakura-chan, that was one of the guys who attacked you and hurt you while we were out, ne?" Naruto's mood instantly went from hilarity to murderous.

"Y-yeah, and the one Sasuke barely stopped himself from breaking his arms."

"_From ripping his arms out, I'd rather say."_

And why did you stop me from doing that anyway?

"Naruto...," Sasuke murmured aloud, staring at the Oto blowhard, "rip him a new one."

Naruto looked at him, barely believing what he just heard, before grinning widely.

"Ohh yeah, I'll make him regret that. Believe it."

Then he just jumped down and let the announcer start the match.

oOo

The match was, at least to Sasuke and Sakura, not very surprising, but deeply satisfying. After getting blown around a bit by Zaku's air techniques Naruto summoned a few shadow clones – less than a dozen – and simply **dominated** the rest of the fight, finishing with his personalized 'U-zu-ma-ki Na-ru-to' _Rendan_ combo and leaving Zaku unconscious with the definite outlook of being colored in painful shades of red and blue for the next few weeks - and maybe a couple of broken bones. Though it had seemed, about halfway through, that the Oto nin was going to pull out a few surprises, that had also been the moment he had talked trash about Sakura, and that had set Naruto off enough that Zaku never got a chance to show more than his basic air cannon blasts.

Needless to say, Sakura felt rightfully vindicated and actually thanked Naruto and congratulated him on his win, while Hinata, blushing fiercely, came shyly over – with a heartening shove from her sensei – and offered Naruto a small jar of healing salve, apologizing for not managing to do it before his match.

Naruto dismissed her apology and thanked her enthusiastically, causing her to almost explode from the semi-hug he gave her. Sakura, suppressing a giggle, saved her and helped her return to her team. The Hyuuga girl almost floated.

Then it was time for the next match.

"Third Match: Haruno Sakura - will face... Nara Shikamaru!"

oOo

"Maaan, that's soo unfair," Naruto complained. "We were the last who returned, had no time to rest and now we all are the very first who have to fight? I can't believe it!"

"Maa, Naruto, that's life as a ninja. Sometimes you can't choose when or how to fight, and sometimes the fights don't stop coming just because you're tired. If you're lucky you still have the ressources left to pull out a victory, but if not, that is the time you lose and maybe die," Kakashi commented.

"Kakashi," Sasuke interrupted. "We need to talk. Quickly."

"Oh? What's so important?" the masked ninja asked.

"A snake in the woods," Sasuke drily stated, causing Kakashi to fixate on him with his uncovered eye.

"I see. Well, watch Sakura's fight while I prepare a proper location."

"Hrn."

"_Well, if he applies his usual sense of timing we'll probably get to see all the other fights before he gets back to us."_

Hrn, affirmed Sasuke mentally.

oOo

Sakura stood there annoyed, facing Shikamaru.

"Drat, I really don't want to fight you. I still owe you thanks for your help back in the forest."

"Well," Shikamaru drawled, "if you are thankful enough to just forfeit..."

"Hell no! I want my chance at becoming chuunin, too," Sakura exclaimed.

"Well, in that case _I_ could...," began the boy, joining his hands behind his head, before being interrupted from the balcony.

"Don't you dare, Nara Shikamaru! If you just give her a free pass I'll hound you till your death!"

That yell came from Ino, of course, who had finally recovered from whatever the Uchiha had done to her and her mindswitch technique but still sported an intermittent blush amplified by occasional catcalls from Tenten.

"Shikamaru, if you don't do your best to win I'll cancel the barbecue I had planned afterwards," his sensei stated, causing Chouji to exclaim: "NOOOOOO!"

"Tch. Troublesome. I don't know whether I'd die from hemorrhaging eardrums or being buried alive," Shikamaru quipped, "so the simple way out is gone, sorry."

"Oh, no problem, I wouldn't really want that either," Sakura dismissed the notion. "But you know what? I guess Ino wouldn't be too happy either if you just caught me in your clan technique and took the easy way out, don't you think?" she aked with an incredibly sweet but evil smile.

"So you think about it, what is worse: having to work at it a bit or having to deal with a pissed Ino-pig for the rest of the month?"

"So troublesome...," Shikamaru moaned as Hayate, on a gesture by Sakura and a questioning look at the Nara boy, started the match and Sakura immediately forced him to dodge with a hail of kunai.

Trying to confuse him she quickly started creating a few _bunshin_ and charged, moving through the illusions to conceal her true location.

Shikamaru honestly was surprised a bit by her tactics, which didn't mesh with the profile he had constructed of the pink-haired kunoichi, and frantically blocked and dodged, all the time furiously thinking, forming and discarding plans by the dozens. Sakura actually was at most adequate in taijutsu, but to be honest, so was he himself, being used to rely on Chouji's support and his own shadow techniques; he was probably quite a bit better and stronger, but her sudden aggression was unexpected and even he could not compensate mid-combat that easily, yet.

"Whoah, what brought that on?" he asked mid-block, having successfully determined where the real attack came from.

"I don't think," footsweep, "you'd be surprised," high block, "if I told you," low punch getting through, ouch, "it was something Sasuke said?"

"Just a bit," grab – damn, a clone – counter, "but it seems," dodge, leap, dodge, "to have had an impact."

'Which actually surprises me more,' he didn't say.

oOo

The gallery, once again, was mostly silent in astonishment.

"I see," muttered Asuma. "She managed to discourage him from using his clan technique and pressured him into a taijitsu battle, which actually isn't his strongest point. And now she keeps the pressure up to deny him the possibility to come up with a winning strategy as well as keeping him unable to change his mind and catch her shadow by moving too fast and unpredictably. Amazing, I thought the girl would never learn to use the brains her academy scores indicated."

"But I thought Shikamaru is a literal genius, just too laid back to work at it?" Kurenai asked from the side, causing Chouji and Ino, both open-mouthed, to nod wordlessly but affirmatively.

"Yes, but the Haruno girl isn't that far behind. She found a strategy which has promise and capitalizes on it. Shikamarus genius is no help if he has no time to plan, and she does her best to deny him that. She just has to keep it up, and Shikamaru's best hope is she can't."

oOo

"What exactly did you say to her, Sasuke?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Nothing she shouldn't have thought of herself for a long time, I thought," Sasuke answered absently, but without true dismissal.

Naruto sent him a doubtful look, but it seemed the exhaustion had finally set in and made him just watch silently.

oOo

Sakura, down in the arena, thought feverishly herself.

"_Hell yeah, kick his ass!"_ Sidestep the clone, block the kick, sidestep again, pull a kunai, make the clones follow suit, threaten the flank. I have to keep it up, don't give him time to think. Footsweep, grab, damn he rolled away, leap to follow, press the attack, dodge not block, now block not dodge, damn I don't know how long I can keep it up - _"Do it!"_ – No, don't overthink it, grab - _"Yes"_ – throw, tumble, keep the hold –

At the same time, Shikamaru had his solution.

Damn, she has me, no, go with the flow, roll, break free, an opening - _now!_

With a burst of strength and speed, he rolled over, using the momentum to break the hold, and the moment his neck and upper back could give him the leverage, exploded in a triple attack, both of his legs and one fist striking each Sakura surrounding him simultaneously. Two were the clones, of course, and popped right out of existence, but the third was the real one and got a very solid hit in the solarplexus, shoving her a good distance away and allowing him to use his other arm to resume his roll and get up quickly.

Sakura, gasping for air, could not avoid his finally onrushing shadow.

"_Kagemane no jutsu_ – success," the boy tiredly stated. "Damn, girl, what have you been eating? That actually was much closer than I ever expected."

Sakura gulped for air, but finally recovered.

"Heh – thought I had you – tried to get you - into a - coup de grace position," she glanced at her kunai, "to make you quit," she panted. "And I would have had you – if you hadn't broken – the last hold."

"That you would have," he admitted. "*Pant* Ready to quit now yourself?"

"_Hell noooo!"_

"Heh – not much of a choice, have I?" Her kunai dropped on the ground. He had only held her yet, so she could do at lest open her hand.

A few seconds passed.

"Very well. Winner: Nara Shikamaru," Hayate finally announced.

The audience went wild.

"Yosh! Never have I seen her flames of youth burning so brightly! Sakura-san, let's celebrate that great fight afterwards, together!" "Hell no!" "Ooooh..."

"Good fight, Forehea- Sakura."

"Yeah! The barbecue is saved!"

"Sakura-chaan!"

"Tch. There _is_ hope yet."

"That was... unexpected."

"Wow."

"Whoa."

"Baw, baw! Whine."

"Um," Shikamaru wondered, "why does everyone cheer for Sakura if I am the one who won? Troublesome..."

oOo

Holding a hand on her stomach, Sakura made her way upstairs to her teammates.

"That was amazing, Sakura-chan," cheered the yellow-orange explosion, pumping his fist in the air.

"Heh. Thanks, but I still lost," she replied wistfully.

"But you gave a good fight," Sasuke commented, almost triggering a fangirl relapse.

No, no... no useless fawning... as much as I want to... but the praise feels good...

"_Hey, this time even Naruto's cheering felt good,"_ Inner Sakura wondered.

Hey, that's right... probably because I really earned that praise, ne?

"_Hell right! And if we work at it, we __**will**__ truly __**deserve**__ even more!"_

For a few seconds, Sakura basked in the feeling.

oOo

"Heh, not an easy win, eh, pineapple-head?"

Shikamaru almost pouted. "She had a point, you know, bleach-head," he fired back. Chouji almost choked on his chips, as Ino's eyes widened.

"Whoa! Sore winner?" she asked, backing off a bit.

"Naah, nothing that troublesome. She just reminded me these fights are intended to also show off our abilities, not just to win. Actually, that's even more troublesome," Shikamaru elaborated reluctantly. "If this had been a finals fight, Sakura would have had a good chance to get considered for promotion. Am I wrong, Asuma-sensei?"

"No, you are completely correct. She showed psychology, tactics, decisiveness and judgement, including the way she gave up. Good qualities for a chuunin to have," Asuma confirmed. "I'm just amazed she did that at all, according to Kakashi's stories I never would have expected that from her."

"Me neither, that's why she got me that way," the Nara admitted, already rolling back the fight mentally and looking for hints to Sakura's sudden change.

"I guess the sound team really shook her up... I remember she sacrificed her hair for a momentary advantage...," Ino mused, fondling her own ponytail absently.

"I guess having someone seriously trying to kill you does that," Chouji stated in surprising maturity.

"That it does, that it does...," Asuma murmured, remembering old times and bygone friends.

"Oh, right, sensei said before, Sakura might almost be in your league regarding brains, Shika," Ino teased. "So I decided. Unless either of you has found someone until the first of us makes jounin or turns twenty, whatever happens first," she said with a demonic grin, "I'll be talking to your and her parents and get them to arrange a marriage between you both. Can't go these Nara brains go to waste, can we?"

This time, Chouji _did_ choke on his chips, Asuma sweatdropped, losing his cigarette, and Shikamaru ignored all of it and took a nap.

Or he fainted, for his mother actually might go for just that. She liked pink.

The difference is sometimes hard to tell.

oOo

Kakashi, not unexpected, had not yet returned when it was time for the next match to start.

"Fourth Match: Dosu Kinuta against Gaara of the *cough* Sand," Hayate announced.

Sasuke leaned forward, interested. Dosu had been one of the Sound nin who had attacked them just before he woke up, and Gaara... he was curious about the boy. Even the forest test had left him unmarked, and he seemed unfazed by anything happening around.

"Gaara...," Naruto muttered. "As much as I hate it, this time I'm almost happy that creep has to face him."

"Yeah," murmured Sakura, "he almost slaughtered Lee, you remember? I told you, didn't I? And he treated even his teammates like crap..."

"_He's sooo dead... literally..."_ Sasuke's still unnamed inner voice murmured.

"What do you know about this Gaara anyway?" Sasuke directed the query to the voice as well as his teammates.

"He must be powerful, if the data given by Kabuto is true," Sakura stated.

"I knew that look in his eyes...," Naruto said quietly, as if in thought.

What does the slacker mean by this?

"_It is not my place to tell yet, but Naruto and Gaara have a lot in common."_

"Hm?" Sasuke's querying sound was quickly droned out by the sounds of the audience.

oOo

"Then start," Hayate quickly stepped back, unwilling to stay in the cones of killing intent emanating from both the Sand and the Sound boys.

"Yes, mother, you will feast on his blood soon," Gaara mumbled. "Yes... we'll play with him a while, yes, yes, as you desire, mother..."

"Ha, don't act so high and mighty, I'll show you," Dosu exclaimed, swinging his gauntleted arm dismissively – and producing a silent hum.

Akamaru, up on the balcony, whined. Kiba let him crawl down into the safety of his jacket, looking concerned and irritated rubbing his ear.

Gaara took a single step forward.

That minor move incited Dosu to charge madly, building momentum for a supposedly devastating attack. Just as he reached Gaara's position and struck, a whip of sand rose from behind the Sand boy and blocked the strike effortlessly. Dosu, in an apparent frenzy, struck and struck, each of his attacks futile until...

Gaara screamed and lashed out with his sand, whipping tentacles almost bisecting the Sound nin, who had leaped back out of easy reach. Gaara raised his hands and clasped his head, his ears, red tracks running down the holes.

"Hah, you forgot, didn't you," Dosu crowed in glee. "My ultrasound strike can bypass all your protections and attack your inner ear directly! Your sand may be a great defense, but against me, it's useless! Useless I say! Bwahaha," he laughed maniacally.

oOo

From the gallery, a shocked Temari watched, an equally shocked Kankuro beside her.

"Gaara has been hurt... actually hurt... this is bad, really bad...," she whispered.

"That Dosu boy seems to have forgotten everything...," Kankuro added quietly.

Baki, their sensei, shushed them. "We'll have to hope he remains in control."

The Oto team's jounin gritted his teeth watching.

Team Seven, on their side, clutched the railing.

"What is he doing there to Gaara? He didn't even touch him," Naruto complained.

"Right, he does that," Sakura reminded them, somewhat concerned with the Sand boy's reaction, and quickly explained the sound nins techniques again.

Naruto actually could be excused this time – during the Sound attack he had been unconscious, and the event in the exam room had been short and a week ago.

Sasuke didn't mention that he also would not have been sure to recall that attack in time.

"_Uh oh... this could be bad, very bad... if Gaara loses control, all hell could break loose."_

He's that powerful?

"_Yes,"_ the voice stated simply. _"But his power also is hard to control. The only one safe from Gaara is Gaara. If he really goes berserk, not even his siblings are safe."_

They are siblings?

"_Yes, but... it's complicated."_

oOo

With a triumphant yell, Dosu charged again, melody arm humming and building up vibrations. His next, special strikes would set up a chain reaction that would make that creepy monster's cold eyes burst and liquefy his brain! Who cared about plans anymore? His leader had betrayed them! He would kill the Sand boy and then, later, the Uchiha...

He completely missed Gaara's trembling, his sand beginning to circle in an agitated twister while staring with widened eyes at his blood-reddened palms. "My blood..."

Dosu yelled.

Gaara screamed.

Chakra flared. The sand seemed to act on its own. Tendrils shot up, blindly searching, probing - and making contact.

Before Dosu could react, all available sand shot along the few tendrils that had made successful contact and enveloped him completely.

Gaara just whispered in pain: "Die. _Sabaku Sousou_ – Sand Waterfall Burial," and closed his fists.

The preliminaries were suspended for a while.

oOo

oOo

AN: I actually rolled a die to determine the fights. Only one substitution was made, to avoid a Kankuro vs. Temari fight, which neither I nor them did want ^^

And I had a lot of fun to make the two fangirl-fights fun and at least halfway interesting. Did I succeed? Tell me what you think!

Oh, and should you have noticed: Yes, Gaara's announcements hint at _that_ joke I didn't want to actually put into a mostly canon background. Logging off... (27. Aug. 2013 - Minor Edits)

oOo

Next: Raven Chatter Part Three: Intermission

The Raven knows the value of patience. For if you wait long enough, wisdom, change and death all come looking for you.

Sakura grabbed the blond by the ear and pulled him along, making him squeal in pain. "Sakura-chaaan... lemme gooo..."

oOo


	3. Part 3 Intermission

AN:

To keep reminding you: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, _italicized_ segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.

And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.

oOo

During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.

But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to _undermine_ the sannin's influence? And **knows** things?

oOo

Raven Chatter

The Raven knows the value of patience. For if you wait long enough, wisdom, change and death all come looking for you.

Part Three: Intermission

oOo

Sakura paled and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh Kami..."

Sasuke gulped.

Naruto shivered.

Kakashi read his little orange book.

The other Sand shinobi moved hesitantly towards Gaara, Baki the only one daring to move quickly.

"Gaara! Control yourself!"

Not getting a favorable reaction and correctly interpreting the red-headed boy's bleeding ears, he amplified his words with a wind technique and tried to make them heard _in_ Gaara's head. He had some success.

"Hurt... blood... my blood... Mother - failed...?"

With an enormous effort the jounin tried to calm Gaara, braving the still whipping sand and, finally, succeding. As soon as the sand calmed down, Gaara dropped unconscious, his sand spilling uncontrolled across the floor. Even the thin sand armor covering his skin cracked and silently trickled away.

His teammates lifted him up and quickly took him to the medics.

"Um... Winner: Gaara of the *wheeze* Sand... We will continue in about," Gekko Hayate, himself a bit queasy, looked up towards the Hokage and his assistants, "an hour or so, until the cleaning crew has finished."

oOo

"A break, excellent," Kakashi said and closed his 'Icha Icha' with a snap.

"YEEEK! When did you get back here?" "Gah! Sensei! Don't do that!" "Hrk – it's about time!"

Each of Team Seven, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke respectively, acknowledged their sensei's arrival in their own way.

"Sasuke, you wanted to talk to me? Let's go then. You two are free to do what you want, except for causing trouble, of course, especially since you had your fights already. If nothing unexpected happens, we'll be back here as soon as the fights resume," their jounin sensei stated, nodding to them and leaving again, Sasuke in tow.

"Tch, they'd better. You and Sasuke are going to the finals, so you'd better keep your eyes open and study your possible opponents," Sakura grumbled. "Gah, this Gaara...," she shuddered.

"Sakura-chan, I think he can't help it," Naruto quietly said.

Shocked by her teammate's unexpected somberness, Sakura inquired: "What do you mean by that?"

"I can't exactly tell you," the blond answered, avoiding eye contact, "but I think he's... broken somehow. There is something about him..."

Sakura looked at him, unbelieving. "Naruto? What has happened to you?"

"Wh-what? What should have happened? I'm just standing here, just the same as you. H-hey, maybe we could look whether there is someplace we could get some Ramen? I'll pay," the boy hectically tried to deflect the question.

Sakura made a decision. She grabbed the blond by the ear and pulled him along, making him squeal in pain. "Yes. Let's. And then you will tell me what I want to know. First Sasuke, now you... and me... has someone turned the world over and shaken it? If Kakashi-sensei isn't late either, once the break ends, I'll **know** the end of the world is near!"

"Sakura-chaaan... lemme gooo..."

oOo

Kakashi led the way through the exam tower.

Sasuke, following him, started to talk. "Do you know already what happened to us in the forest?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered, "in general, mostly. But take care for now with what you say, we're not secure yet."

"_As I assumed. He probably knows and suspects a lot more then he lets on, he might even be testing you. Play along as we planned, I'll help you out where necessary."_

"Very well. Let me just say he told me his name, and Sakura recalled enough from the academy and her books to identify him. He marked me and made me an offer he thinks I can't refuse. I think he's interested in me specifically," Sasuke summarized quietly as they made their way down the stairs.

"More importantly, at least on a personal level," his eyes burned into Kakashi's neck, trying to _force_ him to feel his gaze, "he may have made a mistake there because I think," he pronounced his next words with careful intensity, "finally, I get it."

Kakashi stopped, turning enough to meet Sasuke's eyes with his single uncovered one. "You do? You think there _is_ something to 'get'?"

Sasuke smirked. "Oh yes, apparently I just had to get it violently hammered into my stubborn Uchiha head, as Naruto might say. Or stupid, maybe." He paused.

"You tried to tell me, tell us, all the time, but subtlety obviously didn't work. Especially since you tend to work by the 'do as I say, not as I do' principle."

"Maa, that's mean, Sasuke-kun," the silver-headed jounin complained, sweatdropping.

"But true. No matter, I wasn't ready to listen either until the forest."

"Oh? And," the man opened a door, waved Sasuke in, followed and locked it with a seal, "what exactly _did_ you get, there in the forest?"

He formed a few seals and ensured their privacy.

"Without Naruto, I would be gone. Abducted, probably brainwashed and enslaved or whatever he wants from me. Without Sakura, yes, 'useless pink-haired Sakura', we three would be dead. Teammates have a reason, and I was too stubborn and proud to see it. You always wanted me to learn humility; well, apparently I have. A bit. Though, starting with the loudmouth and the fangirl as teammates made it that much harder to see."

Kakashi just examined him for a few seconds. "You _have_ changed."

"For the better, I hope. Okay, let me list what else I wanted to bring to your attention." Sasuke started to thoroughly describe the encounter with Orochimaru in the forest, adding or modifying a few details his inner voice recommended to justify the 'deductions he had made'...

"... then he just pulled the skin off his face. I don't know what that technique was, but it wasn't a standard henge or genjutsu. Even my sharingan didn't penetrate it before. So Orochimaru could still be here, disguised as anyone unfamiliar enough we can't unmask behavior."

"... so not only he gave me that damn seal or whatever it is, he did something similar to Naruto, just instead of a bite he thrust chakra-charged fingertips into his stomach. He doesn't seem to have gotten the same thing as I, but you should check it out too, just in case."

"... then he dared to say he offered me 'power', and if I wanted more, I should 'seek him out'. Moron. As if I would just go to him and say 'give me power and I'll do what you want'. An Uchiha would never just sell himself to such a creep! Besides, who knows what that creep would want me to do? He didn't have a particularly... pleasant... demeanor..."

"... even incapacitated, there were a few things I remember... these Sound nin did seem to have had orders to kill me, but were pretty confused and pissed when they saw the curse seal, as if they had been betrayed. I guess he was involved with them too. Which reminds me, Sound is pretty new, and Orochimaru definitely has the power to be a Kage, doesn't he?"

"... especially when Sakura rapidly listed all she remembered about Orochimaru and the other Sannin. Actually, when she showed me there actually was a brain under that horrible pink hair of hers, I forced myself to have a serious talk with her. I guess it stuck and was the cause for the way she fought the Nara – Shikamaru I mean. I guess she has deserved the chance to be taken seriously."

During all of this, Kakashi had started to prepare a sealing matrix to deal with the unwelcome curse seal as soon as Sasuke had shown it to him.

"Heh, I guess the famed Uchiha willpower has shown itself useful if you can hold control over this curse seal for that long. Oh, well, sit here and we'll see what we can do," Kakashi finally remarked.

"_More like the 'famous Uchiha stubbornness', I'd say."_

Hush.

"_Well, now we'll see what sealing the curse seal does to me. If we shouldn't speak again, well, it was fun, remember my words as well as you can, and try to follow the spirit more than the letter. Kakashi may have been a rotten teacher, but mostly because he has standards fresh genin usually just can't match."_

Oh. I had not thought of that. For what it's worth, thanks and good bye, if you really should get sealed away along with this... thing.

"_What, no tear-jerking claims of unforgettable affection? Heh, still the stoic Uchiha, I guess. Okay, he starts now – let's hope no one interferes."_

"Hrn. Kakashi, you are sure no one can interrupt?"

"I guess so, but okay, I'll make certain. Okay, the seals are secure, the matrix is ready. Let's do this."

oOo

With a rush of chakra the sealing matrix shrunk and tightened, enclosing the cursed seal and blocking most of its connections to Sasuke's chakra system.

_Yes, much better. Ah, there I can do something. And... heave! You, get over here, not there... aaand – lock! Very well done, even if I say so myself._

_Ah, good, __**I'm**__ not trapped. Excellent. Now to let Kakashi finish and hope he doesn't get the visit from Orochimaru – or should I hope he does? It would __**prove**__ what I made Sasuke say... Hmmm, if I only could read Kakashi's thoughts... Oh, well, I guess I'll have to trust in him. _

With a satisfied sigh the 'voice' finished his work on and inside the Uchiha boy's chakra coils and relaxed, waiting for whatever would happen next.

oOo

On the outside, the jounin with the Oto head protector stood and pouted.

"Kukuku... Our dear little Kakashi seems to have improved his ways in security seals... too bad, I'd have liked to visit my little Sasuke and... comforted... him about his disappointing little squabble with that horrid girl... Why oh why didn't the matchups go like I planned? Oh well, I still have to compensate for Dosu's loss and his damaging Gaara, little idiots... On the other hand now were the perfect opportunity to set _him_ up with a seal, if I had brought more of Juugo 'juice'... maybe I could send Kabuto-kun on an errand? Hmmm... jinchuuriki with curse seals... so much power... better than the other plan...?" His thoughts leaped from one possibility to the next, and finally, unwilling to risk discovery, he withdrew and vanished to rejoin the audience of the preliminary final exams.

oOo

_Now where did __**that**__ come from? That can't be real... can it? What's going on?_

oOo

Meanwhile Sakura and Naruto had found an area outfitted to serve as a mess hall and, with Sakura's decisive guidance, selected a quiet corner away from most prying eyes and ears, at least for the moment.

Naruto even had gotten his beloved ramen, a big bowl with miso and pork. Not quite Ichiraku, but it would suffice for now. Sakura was satisfied with a few simple rice balls and some pickles, neither in the mood for more luxurious fare nor caring for dieting thoughts.

"Okay, Naruto, spill it. Something weird is going on here, and I wanna know what," she demanded after taking the edge off her own hunger. Hm, definitely more pleasant than chewing up a soldier pill...

"Sakura-chan, I really don't know what you are talking about," Naruto whined, already thinking about getting another bowl – and dodging Sakura's questions at the same time. A dual purpose fulfillment. Ah, ramen, the food of the gods...

Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples.

"Fine, if I have to figuratively pull your teeth to get answers I can do that." _"Hell, literally too, if I need to."_

Naruto gulped.

"Okay, one question at a time, and if you don't give me a good answer I'll... I'll..." she floundered a bit thinking up a believable threat which would have an effect on the (usually) hyperactive blond. "I'll rent you out to Tenten for target practice," she finally joked, feeling the absurdity of the situation. Getting Naruto, of all people, to answer a serious question seriously? Preposterous. "Or I'll get Ino-pig to give Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei a makeover and get you blamed for the idea."

Seeing Naruto shudder she had to suppress a smirk. When he wasn't actively annoying her and Sasuke-kun he actually could be fun- tolerable.

"Okay, first things first: Why were you that serious up there when Gaara – gah, I don't even want to think about it." Even Inner Sakura was still queasy.

"I told you," Naruto sighed, surprising her with his somber tone. "I think he's broken, in here," he held a hand to his chest. "And I can understand him, hell, I came close to that myself."

Sakura was stunned. Naruto, living bad joke factory, annoyance on legs, loudest ninja ever, looking and sounding... depressed?

"Naruto, if that's a joke, it's a very bad one. How the hell could someone like you understand a cold, insane killer like that?"

Naruto looked at her with an unreadable expression. "No joke, Sakura-chan."

He sighed and braced his head on his hands.

"I would love to joke, to put it all away and just yell at someone or something, but... This Sound nin, Dosu... I hated him for what he -almost- did to you, and I would have happily danced if he had all his arms and legs broken or something like that – but this actually is the first time someone I have known, even as an enemy, has died in such a way. When Zabuza and Haku died, in Wave, I was sad too – Haku saw himself as a tool without purpose, after I beat him – and Zabuza, he too was a professional killer, but there was something about them that made me sad when they died. But when Gaara killed Dosu, he was in pain, in rage, he just lashed out – and he had the power to totally destroy him in a heartbeat. And he did it. And I felt – I dunno, shock – but that's all. No real sadness. And that scares me."

"Wow, Naruto... I never heard you talk like that..." Sakura felt a little scared. _"Naruto? Deep? Hell, what is going on here?" _

"Heh, you always refused me asking for a date, didn't you," he weakly grinned. "I guess it's the whatchacallit – the shock. And the break. Usually, something else happens, or I just have to run away, or I look for something else to do, but somehow this time there isn't anything. It feels weird, and I usually feel that way only when I'm at home and trying to sleep but I am not tired enough. Then Sasuke, even for just a few minutes, took me serious and talked to me, to us – heck, he must have used up a good week's supply of words and I couldn't even get a rise out of him. That made me feel weird, too."

"That's it."

"Huh?"

"Sasuke."

Naruto made a face. "Sakura-chaan, please, don't start talking about the bastard again," he whined.

Sakura forced Inner Sakura down and restricted herself to a minor twitch of annoyance.

"That's not what I mean. I'm serious. Do you see me fawning about him right now?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "What the... hey, you're right! You don't have the look. Wha – hell, that's why you asked! Something happened to you and you think to me too?"

Sakura did her best to keep calm, but was rapidly losing patience. Naruto started being jumpy again, and if she wanted answers, that just wouldn't do.

"Yes – no – oh hell. Shut up and listen," she barked, barely restraining her volume. She took a deep breath.

"When you were fishing the morning after the Sound team attacked," Naruto nodded obediently, "Sasuke talked to me. He actually talked, and I have to admit he has never done that - like that - before. First he just asked whether I knew anything about Orochimaru – that snake creep – and when I recalled and rattled off most of the stuff from the academy history lessons – yes, I remember you usually slept through these, Iruka-sensei has yelled at you often enough about that," she interjected, cutting off Naruto's comment before it started, "- and an old bingo book I read just after Wave, he actually praised me," she raised her hand to keep him silent, "and immediately after that he put me down hard. No, keep shutting up," she barked again as he colored in anger, "I guess I deserved it."

"Huh?" Now Naruto was just confused. Sasuke had hurt Sakura but she didn't want to cr- ven- complain? She said she deserved it? What the kyuubi-

"Heh. I must have been such an idiot. He actually sat down with me and plainly _told_ me that. Have I really been that annoying? _That_ you can answer now, but don't yell, okay?"

"Uh... what do you mean? I don't want to say something dumb, but I really don't understand what you mean with that," Naruto asked, desperately trying to convey his honest cluelessness and actively not-annoying Sakura.

Same sighed and tried to make herself understood: "Was I really that annoying chasing after Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto 'aaah'-ed, then closed his mouth with an audible snap. He scrunched his face in thought.

"Just tell me," Sakura sighed.

Naruto tentatively answered: "Well, you were always going 'Sasuke' this and 'Sasuke' that and 'Sasuke-kuun' and 'Sasuke is so great' even when he did exactly nothing and you always said 'Sasuke is soo much better' even when I was the one who did something..."

Every few words made Sakura twitch more until she raised her hand, preparing to inflict a deserved justice bump, when Naruto stopped, raising his own hands in frightened defense, lowering his head, and just closed with: "... you asked."

Sakura looked at her own hand in shock, then at Naruto, then back at her fist. Then she just slumped, burying her face on the tabletop.

"Oh crap. I just noticed... I behaved towards Sasuke just as you always did to me, didn't I?"

"_Oh hell nooo..."_ Inner Sakura delivered an excellent impression of Munch's 'The Scream', not that either Sakura knew anything about artist or painting.

"I did," she answered her own question.

Cluelessly Naruto asked: "And what's wrong with that?"

If she hadn't already rested her head on the table she would have broken it now with a massive facefault.

"Hell, Naruto, what's wrong with you?" she mumbled, exasperated, raising her head just enough to glare at him.

Naruto, not registering the glare, scratched his head in confusion. "Isn't that how you show you like someone? I mean that's just what you girls did all the time with Sasuke and Kiba isn't much different when he wants to talk to a girl... okay, some others don't, but they don't seem to have anyone anyway, so..."

Unbelieving, Sakura raised her head further, slowly, and stared at him. Okay, he usually _did_ behave like a little kid, but he was supposed to be their age, about twelve, and, being a genin, technically an adult, kind of. Even Inner Sakura just stared.

"Kami, Naruto...," she actually wanted to be annoyed, angry, to lash out, but having just had her own epiphany she just couldn't, facing his honest confusion.

"Heh, I can't really complain, can I? I just noticed myself..." she muttered, "Kami, Naruto, no matter what I did myself, no, it was wrong, annoying and totally useless."

She dropped her head again. "All the time I just thought Sasuke was playing hard to get but he really hated that behavior... and I hated it too from you and didn't notice it was just the same..."

"_Just like kids, but we don't want to be anymore, do we?"_ Inner Sakura mused.

She turned her head, now lying on the side, to look at the boy. He stared at her with wide eyes, uncomprehending – no, apparently half comprehending, if slowly.

"Naruto, I just got how stupid we both have been all the time. Sorry. I have an idea, let's just start over," she said, rising again.

"Hello Naruto. I'm Haruno Sakura, your teammate. I don't want to hate you anymore. No, I still don't want to date you, I still want to date Sasuke, but I promise to stop being an annoying pest about it if you try, too. Still, we're teammates and we can at least try to be friends, okay?" She offered her hand with a self-deprecating soft smile, waiting patiently for his reaction.

Naruto stared at her so much she feared his eyes would dry out. Finally – finally! – he blinked a few times and seemed to understand, nodding. He smiled – not his usual grin, a honest, unforced smile, with tears in his eyes – and took her hand.

"Hello Sakura. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, your other teammate. I still like you, but I don't want you to hate me and would really like to be your friend. Believe it."

They silently and softly shook on it and kept quiet for a few seconds, then let go. A few tears ran from Naruto's eyes, confusing Sakura a bit as they reached his smile. He wasn't crying because of her plain if soft rejection, so why...?

His next words shocked her, but explained a lot.

"Sakura-chan – this was maybe the second time in all my life and the first time someone my age seriously wanted me to be their friend. Thank you."

Sakura still was full of questions, but sensed the fragility of the mood, so they just silently sat in thought the rest of the time, absorbed in thought, absently eating a bit more.

Seeing Naruto actually consuming his ramen slowly and unhurried could have been creepy, but now it just drove the point home. They might become actual friends, real teammates, no longer just clashing personalities thrown together by chance and strict, uncaring rules.

Then the call went out: "The preliminary exams are ready to continue. Everybody involved please return to the arena."

And with a massive belch by Naruto, sporting an embarrassed and apologetic grin, the mood died in relieved laughter.

oOo

oOo

AN: Yes, as far as I can tell, events _never_ have allowed Naruto and Sakura a simple, serious talk before, be it for time, events or mood; Naruto has had his introspective, darker moments; and now, Sakura has had her own kind of trauma and both are still shocked by Gaara's fight. Circumstances have met, and the seed for rapid growth has spread. The last question is, will it really flourish?  
>(27. Aug. 2013 - Minor Edits)<p>

And now a senseless Micro-Omake:

*Ding*

'Haruno Sakura' gains 1 Level!

Personal Growth +2!

Wisdom +3 Perception +1 Maturity +4 Impulsiveness –3

Free Attribute Change: 'Fanaticism' may be replaced with: 'Dedication' Y/N/O

y

Intensity –3 Patience +1 Resolve +2

Levelup complete. Visit your trainer for new _jutsu_.

oOo

Next: Raven Chatter Part Four: Tower Fight, Part Two

The Raven is at home among the dead and dying. To him, eyes no longer seeing are a deliciacy...

"I feel morally obliged to all womankind to shave off these black caterpillars between what you call eyes and that awful haircut of yours!"

And there was much rejoicing.

oOo


	4. Part 4 Tower Fight 2

AN: Quick re-upload for small last-minute edits and trying to fix the omake fight list. (Minor Edits and corrections - 27. Aug. 2013)

Routine declaration: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, _italicized_ segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.

And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.

I also don't own the Alan Parsons Project. I'll just snatch a few lines.

oOo

During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.

But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to _undermine_ the sannin's influence? And **knows** things?

oOo

Raven Chatter

The Raven is at home among the dead and dying. To him, eyes no longer seeing are a deliciacy...

Part Four: Tower Fight, Part Two

oOo

_And now I know what Sakura did... There's definitely more to this than I expected._

oOo

"The preliminary exams are ready to continue. Everybody involved please return to the arena," the speakers repeated again.

Sakura and Naruto made their way upwards, no longer as tense as before. They even were smiling.

Hinata felt her heart skip a few beats. They couldn't have... could they? Noo...

She swallowed and tried to calm herself. One, two, ... ten, yes, all toes there.

Sakura, meanwhile, looked around and tried to spy other familiar faces.

"*Sigh* Oh well, at least the world doesn't seem to end today. Kakashi-sensei isn't there yet," she said, vindicated, while Naruto laughed at her joke.

Except for the copy-nin and Sasuke, as expected, all latecomers trickled in. The Sound team's remaining member, Kin Tsuchi, appeared apprehensive and doing her best to stay out of her jounin-sensei's line of view, who glowered at the majority of Konoha shinobi.

Finally the arrivals stopped, the officials has resumed their positions and, after a last announcement, the billboards flickered again.

"And now, for the Fifth Match: Akado Yoroi versus Inuzuka Kiba."

"Woohoo!" the dog and his boy howled in chorus. "We get to kick some butt!"

With a pumped fist and a leap, the duo – okay, Akamaru still in Kiba's jacket – went down the stairs and into the arena, where Kiba let his partner go.

Quickly, the fight began. Yoroi's Ability to drain chakra unfortunately wasn't of much use against the Inuzuka, who didn't rely on fancy high-chakra techniques but just chakra-enhanced attacks, basically just his clan's style of taijutsu. But he really enjoyed taunting his opponent, whose garb gave the dog-boy ample ammunition. Even the occasional setback from losing energy to Yoroi had not enough effect to notably slow down Kiba and Akamaru, who got his own chance to shine when Kiba finally triggered the Beast Clone technique.

"_Shikyaku no jutsu – Juijin Bunshin_! Akamaru, two-pronged assault! Fang over Fang – _GATSUUGA_!"

In a burst of smoke two horizontal tornadoes curved towards the temporarily crippled man, whirling around each other and passing him once-twice-three times reflecting from ground and walls and only grazing him, but turning him around several times from the glancing blows, before finally barrelling straight into him from opposite sides just as their victim triggered a few smoke bombs to take cover in.

The cloud of smoke turned into absolute chaos, no one able to distinguish fighters or maneuvers – except for the two Hyuugas, who had primed their Byakugan eyes. Hinata flinched every few seconds – usually accompanying a hard crack - while Neji just watched without much expression.

"Oh maan, what's going on in there? I wanna seee," Naruto complained. "Kiba was so cool being all bestial and stuff, and I never knew Akamaru could turn into his twin! What are they doing in there? He, Sakura, do you know how they can fight in all that smoke?" he asked as he noticed the sounds indicating lots of successful hits, not just maneuvering and missed attacks.

"Um, maybe they can smell their opponent?" Sakura guessed.

"Good guess," Kakashi confirmed.

"YEEEK! Not again!" "Kakashi-sensei!" Sasuke, having accompanied the man, just smirked, for once being on the other side of the sneaky surprise.

"Heh, heh, heh," the copy-ninja chuckled. "I guess I'll have to train my cute little students more in situational awareness. But yes, the Inuzuka have very sharp senses from training with and the link to their canine partners."

"So they're fighting by nose? Cool. Weird but cool," Naruto exclaimed. "Go Kiba!"

Just then a small furry bundle flew out of the smoke, crashing down limply.

Several gasps, mostly feminine, were heard in the audience.

A few seconds later a growling yell was heard. "You can drain my chakra, you can beat on me, you can act all superior as much as you want, but you-don't-hurt-my-partner! Die you bastard!" The shout was followed by a series of hard impacts and slashes, interspersed by a few sounds of pain, before ending in an eerie silence.

A minute later, the smoke had dispersed enough to see two unmoving figures draped over each other.

Hayate stepped over cautiously and examined the bodies.

"Well, both are unconscious. Yoroi due to damage, Kiba due to severe chakra exhaustion. Unfortunately, since _both_ fighters are unable to continue," he added after a short wait and a quiet cough, "I have no choice but to declare the match a..." Suddenly, a yelp interrupted him, as Akamaru rose and limped towards the scene. He glared at Hayate – who at first didn't seem to know whether he was supposed to be intimidated or to go 'Aaawww!' – and snarled. Then he waddled over to Kiba, nipped him in the fleshy bits –"Ow!"- only to step up to Yoroi's neck, putting a paw there and baring his small but sharp teeth demonstratively at Hayate again.

The surprised proctor lifted an eyebrow, thought for a moment and finally declared: "Well, since Yoroi is defenseless and Kiba's clan partner *cough* could easily finish him, I'll tentatively declare Akamaru - and Inuzuka Kiba - winner of this match, subject to objections from higher up *cough*."

The Hokage consulted the teachers for a minute, then dismissed the notion.

"As constant animal partners are considered equipment and thus a part of the shinobi in question, the win stands. For further consequences I'll defer to a medical assessment and the Inuzuka clan head's opinion after Tsume has had the opportunity to review the fight in detail."

"Very well. So, final decision: Winner: Inuzuka Kiba."

The medic-nins quickly removed the motionless bodies from the floor, followed by a concerned puppy. Who after some commotion got permission to join Kiba on his stretcher.

oOo

"Whoa, that Yoroi guy must have gotten him bad, if he's got chakra ex- ex- if he's that much out of chakra," Naruto, trying to sound knowledgeable, failed miserably, prompting a bit of laughter from his teammates and thus fulfilling his real objective.

"Well, not anyone has your chakra reserves, Naruto. If you were completely fresh and had to fight against this guy he might just explode," Kakashi joked.

"Or if he had to fight Shino and his bugs the fight could last for days," Sakura whispered to avoid clueing the wrong people in on the Aburame bug's abilities. "You remember, they _eat_ chakra, too?"

They tried to visualize the idea.

"Whoa, that would be... awesomely boring, or boringly awesome," Naruto grinned.

Even Sasuke found the ideas somewhat funny. Hmm... the voice wasn't commenting? Maybe it _had_ been sealed, too. Oh well, at least he would be alone in his head again.

_(You wish)_, same voice quietly thought, smugly avoiding its host's awareness.

_(I'll let him think a while for himself again and use the time to take stock of these unexpected developments... well, I'll keep watching the fights, too. So far, the candidates for the finals have not really changed. I foresee the possibility Kiba will not be able to compete. Still, half the fights have yet to happen, so we'll have to see what develops. Hmm, what will happen with Gaara? The actual damage should be no problem for the med-nins, but the possible trauma... Or his siblings... what has Oro-creepy-maru planned in case none or only one of them gets to the final round? Questions, questions...) _it pondered.

"Oh, and Saasuuke-kuun?"

Oh crap, is she backsliding already?

"Once this is over, I have a few questions for you... and you too, Naruto. And don't you dare try to avoid me again."

Both boys had identical reactions: Uh oh *gulp*.

oOo

"Oh, well, let's go on with it. And the next fight will be *cough*," The board stopped.

"Rock Lee... against Temari of the Sand. Both fighters down here, please."

Temari took the direct route, leaping over the railing and smoothly sailing downwards hanging on to her giant fan, but was surprised when she saw someone already standing there – she had been sure she had moved first - a boy with absolutely ridiculously huge black eyebrows, an horrible bowl cut and an exasperatingly annoying expression in his eyes, not to mention the awful ugly green jumpsuit. So that was 'Rock Lee' – hadn't been another one up there?

_(And now I can read her thoughts too... weird. But cool,) _Sasuke's inner voice noticed. _(Maybe because Sasuke is focusing on the fight? But then why did I know what Sakura was doing before? And why am I getting only a few flashes from Lee?)_

She looked – yes, there was another, older one there, probably a teacher. Damn, probably some clan features then. _(Heh.)_ These guys seemed to have some weird behavior patterns, if she remembered right. Damn, why couldn't Kankuro or Gaara have drawn that guy as an opponent – one freak versus another?

She felt some guilt at the thought, they were family, and Gaara had threatened to kill them not _that_ often during the last few days. Not that he killed them at all –yet- through these years, of course, so maybe he _did_ recognize them as family, at least a bit.

Oh well, at least Kankuro would have been a better match, at least in looks – painted puppeteer pajama versus garish green guy – heh, nice alliteration.

"Oh dear, Konoha doesn't seem to offer sensible fashion choices at all, does it?" she teased, touching down.

"You're one to speak with that partner of yours," someone screeched from the peanut gallery.

"Yosh! Do not insult a youthful choice in garb, dear Ino! I'm certain his attire has been chosen with burning conviction," the green glare answered LOUDLY, "but it is not him I must face, but his youthful girl friend who so smoothly swept down to our battle!"

"Hey! I'm not his girlfriend! That fluke up there is my BROTHER, you twit!" Temari exclaimed.

"Ah! Forgive me my faulty preconceptions, then, but I was unaware of your relationship," Lee apologized.

"In fact, Gaara is my brother, too, you know..." Temari sweetly added, causing Lee to swallow with wide eyes, remembering Dosu's brutal end.

But he swiftly recovered and exclaimed "Yosh," –

Kami, has that guy no indoor voice? Temari thought.

"- then I expect you to have a comparable, if much more youthful, amount of battle spirit to test myself against, even if you are a female and I deeply regret to have to fight such a breath-taking vision of the desert!"

Did he just insult me, compliment me or compared me to Gaara? Or all three?

"Hey! If that was some sort of come on then I feel morally obliged to all womankind to shave off these black caterpillars between what you call eyes and that awful haircut of yours!" she yelled, trying to contend with the boy's voice.

And there was much rejoicing from above.

"In fact, why don't I just shave off everything from your nose on upwards?"

Less cheering, heh.

"Yosh! While most unyouthful in its intent, I do accept your youthful motive behind it and declare that in no way I intended to 'come on' to you! So let's have a most youthful match and test our abilities against each other!"

Up on the balcony, Maito Gai shed rivers of youthful tears in admiration for the amazing youthful eloquence his pupil displayed. "Oh, Lee... they learn so fast these days... soon there will be not much more I can teach you."

Oh Kami, both his other students thought, I hope so – or rather I _fear_ that day?

Temari, confused, just shook the speech off and, snapping open her fan to the first – no, I'll go right for the second, this guy is annoying - setting, bellowed: "Enough banter! Let's start this so I can end it and get away from this... thing!"

"Yosh! Yes, announcer, let us do so!"

Hayate, wishing he had had some earplugs so he could pull them out right now, complied. "Sixth Match: Rock Lee versus Temari of Sand, start!"

oOo

Temari immediately swung her fan in the desire to end this fight quickly, trying to smash the annoying Lee against the wall. To her surprise, the gust of wind caught nothing but dust. Then she saw, from the corner of her eyes, something green move beside her and felt a hard impact on her legs, making her pay a quick visit to the ground. She quickly rolled to her feet, snapping her fan shut and swinging it with high speed in the green direction, only to miss again.

Lee, with blinding speed, had rolled to the side and, almost too fast to see, closed from the flank and swept her from her feet, only to roll away again and move into a new position.

He didn't want to actually strike the girl with force yet, so he went for 'soft' attacks. These not exactly being the forte of the _Gouken_ -Strong Fist- style his sensei had drilled him in, he mentally took the choice as a nice opportunity to train, by trying to beat the sand blonde with these more difficult techniques. He drew the fight out a bit by making her drop and roll a few more times, trying just to exhaust, confuse and finally stun or daze her and softly knock her out.

"Striking to break, to injure or kill is easy, striking to only stun or disable requires great control," as Gai-sensei had said.

Well, she didn't seem to be strong in taijitsu, so the risk to himself was slight, and he could evade her wind techniques with his normal speed without much effort. He couldn't actually _see_ her attacks, only _feel_ them if they came close, but her movements were relatively easy to read and thus, the attacks no great challenge to predict.

Temari on her part fumed and spun to find her target again. There he was, standing in that dumb-looking stance of his, bandaged hand with its back towards her. She'd wipe that (actually nonexistant) smirk off his face!

With a snap, her fan swept open again and she went for full power already, not caring about reserving tricks for later fights. She'd get him with the Sickle Wind technique with enough spread so he wouldn't be able to dodge!

"_Kamaitachi no jutsu_!" she yelled and swung her signature weapon with all the force and chakra she could muster on the spot and produced a huge twister, covering half the arena's surface area and –yes!- catching the green grasshopper (why the heck had she come up with that moniker? Suna had neither much grass nor many insects feeding on it...) in her technique and twisting, pushing him upwards to the ceiling.

"Whoa...!" Lee had already been moving to evade, but her full attack had been much, much wider than expected and so he found himself, only halfway to the whirlwind's border, sucked in, ripped with amazing force off his feet and straight up into the air. Overcoming the confusion and vertigo quickly – not that mid-air combat was a specialty of his style, but during his training he had often enough traversed notable distances by external propulsion, usually Gai-sensei – he twisted and turned and, instead of flatly smacking into the ceiling, breaking the impact with his feet, practically crouching on the ceiling. His fingertips pushed into the stone to keep the hold he hadn't when on the ground rather than relying on his less reliable tree- (or wall-) walking technique.

Focusing chakra into his legs, his toughened body enduring the myriad of cuts, he held on and waited for the lull in the wind he knew would come as soon as the center of the whirlwind wavered far enough and blasted off, turning around and diving –through- the storm downwards, foot forward, to impact with the full combined force and speed of his chakra-charged muscles, trained Strong Fist –or in this case, Foot- techniques and gravity aided by his training weights.

He aimed for a spot about one step beside the girl.

Temari _threw_ her target into the ceiling and let the wind rip him to shreds, yes, there flew green and orange strips of cloth, reddish drops being drawn into thin lines, highlighting the edges of the cutting winds. She kept her focus on him – how did he hold on there still? – and held the technique as long as she could. Just then the stream of chakra fluctuated, as the –now **red** and green- boy pushed off the ceiling and just _broke_ through the force of her winds, shooting down like a falling star, a meteor, with incredible speed and force, faster than a normal eye could see, down towards... her...

She braced herself and tried to block, her fan instantly snapping shut and offering the resiliency of a steel girder – he missed! He -

With a huge crash, Lee impacted just where he wanted, barely passing her block, shattering the solid stone slabs into dust and gravel exploding in a huge blast.

Temari was unconscious before she struck the wall, smashing into it, blasted away by the burst of gravel and bonelessly sliding downwards, pelted bloody and soon to be red and black and blue all over.

Lee vaulted out of the almost hip-deep crater, ripping his kicking leg free without much effort, and stood an eyeblink later besides the girl, checking her condition. He was elated to find her covered only with minor wounds - admittedly a lot of them, but he didn't look much better – and just knocked out from the concussion without major broken bones.

"Yosh! She's alright! While her power of youth has clashed with mine for a glorious contest, the storms she called up have fanned my own flames to new heights!" he cried, seeking out his sensei with tearing eyes.

"LEE!" Gai yelled, crying manly tears of pride.

"GAI-SENSEI!" the answer came, both males thrusting their fists triumphantly towards the sky- ceiling.

Hayate cleared his throat. "*Ehrm* *cough* Would you please await the official verdict?"

Both froze, to the relief of all witnesses.

Hayate checked Temari's condition and rose again.

"Okay, an unequivocal victory for Rock Lee. Congrats. Medic!"

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee yelled, crying manly tears of joy.

"LEE!" the answer came, both males hugging and thrusting their fists triumphantly towards the sky, the setting sun bathing them in a warm glow.

"Oh, and could someone get the guy with the shovel, to fix that?"

"_Doton_-"

"OK, that works, too."

Kankuro watched the medic-nins take care of his sister and began to nervously gnaw off the fingertips of his gloves to get at the chewy nails inside.

He would be next. He just knew it.

Fnck the plan.

oOo

Collectively, Team Seven shuddered and decided to just - forget – _that_ scene.

"Wow," Naruto cheered, "now _that_ is a crater."

"Ouch," Sakura empathetically groaned, "that was definitely _worse_ than being smashed against a tree trunk."

"Impressive," Sasuke stated, "I had not thought Lee was _that_ fast and strong."

"He probably held back in your little fight in the academy," Kakashi said. "If I recall, he only tried that one major maneuver on you, and Gai interrupted that."

Sasuke nodded, recalling the moment.

"Should you have captured that, take care," Kakashi murmured to Sasuke, "With taijutsu maneuvers on _their_ scale you could easily hurt yourself badly when you try something your body can't follow through on. There is a good reason for the amount of training Lee goes through."

"Yeah, I got that," Sasuke answered just as furtively, "just as with chakra reserves for most B-class and higher ninjutsu. I need the ressources to perform.

"Well," the boy resumed normal speech volume, "then we know one more thing we might face in the finals, so give m-_ us _appropriate training."

Damn.

Kakashi noted the close miss and Sasuke's abashed correction. Hmmm – the boy would have to work on it to avoid backsliding, understandable.

Naruto only noticed the correction. Sakura did so, too, but since she had lost her fight she just sighed.

"Wow – did you just say 'us', Bas- Sasuke?" Naruto cut the casual insult, it just didn't feel right this time for some reason.

Sasuke took note, just as Sakura and Kakashi did.

"*Sigh*," Sasuke felt put on the spot, but tried to rise to the challenge.

"Yes, I said 'us'. If you don't get good trainig, it won't be fun to beat you down without a good challenge. Not to mention you wouldn't get far enough to get to try at all, _slacker_," he actually grinned at the blonde, taking the heat out of the habitual insult.

"Bastard," Naruto grinned back, without rancor either.

"Hrn," Sasuke grunted, half-jokingly, before continuing. "But Kakashi, I meant what I said before – find something useful for _her_ too," he pointed his thumb at Sakura, who looked back in surprise.

"Oh?" Kakashi scrutinized the pink-haired, still scuffed-up girl, who started to fidget at the attention.

"_Dammit, girl, get a grip!"_ Inner Sakura yelled, _"That is y- our opportunity to get taken seriously, to be an asset, to get a __**real**__ chance with Sasuke!"_

Sakura straightened and met Kakashi's eye. "Yes. Please." She firmly said.

"I'm good and tired of just trailing behind uselessly," she swallowed the bitter taste of the blunt but true words. "If I want to be of value to the team, I need to be able to _do_ something useful. If I had known more medical skills, or had been stronger in genjutsu – hell, even my taijutsu isn't that good, I just got lucky with Shikamaru not being that much better."

"I still think you rocked, Sakura-chan," Naruto tried to support her, earning a perfunctory soft slap with a smile instead of her (formerly) customary fist.

"Very well," Kakashi said after a moment of thought. "You really have grown in this week, I must admit. I'll try to arrange something after this, we can make solid plans later."

Yay! _"Hell yeah!"_

The speakers crackled: "Repairs have been made. We will continue now."

oOo

Gekko Hayate, once again, stepped forward, clearing his throat a few times.

"Well, let's come to the seventh match, the day isn't getting any longer," he droned, trying to ignore the smashed and provisorily fixed stone slabs from the previous fight.

"And for the seventh match, we'll have...," once more, the sign flickered through the remaining participants and stopped at:

"Hyuuga Hinata will meet now Kankuro of Sand."

"I knew it, I fncking knew it" the masked puppeteer loudly cursed, pounding the railing with somewhat worn gloves. Muttering more curses, he listlessly made his way down to floor level.

Hinata flinched at the volume and vocabulary of the painted boy with the wrapped package. Had he something like his brother's sand hidden in there? She gulped and paled a bit at the memory.

Kurenai softly sighed and tried to encourage her student.

"Hinata, you can do it. Believe in you, in your skills. I do. Just act fast and decisively, before he can bring up - whatever it is he does. Just keep your eyes open for unexpected tricks, and if you hit enough of his _tenketsu_ fast enough, the match will be over before you know it," she implored the shy girl.

Sakura, still giddy from Kakashi's promise, took notice. Hell, the girl needed good morale more than anything else, and if she wasn't totally wrong about everything she had seen from her...

"Hey, Naruto, isn't that the guy who tried to _pound you_ the day before the exams?" she asked loudly. Hinata stiffened.

"Yeah, when I tried to get Konohamaru away from him. He had that foul mouth then too," Naruto cluelessly confirmed. "Called me all sorts of bad things."

"_Doesn't_ seem to be a very _nice_ person then."

"Nice? He was just spoiling for a fight and tried to pick on me for that."

"Well, I hope then he _gets what he deserves_. Someone should really _teach him how to behave_ as a guest," Sakura poured it on, hiding her smile at the dark clouds figuratively rising from Hinata.

_(Oooohhh, the poor guy...)_

oOo

Yes, it was complete and utter slaughter.

The moment Hinata arrived on the floor her _Byakugan_ was primed. Kankuro barely had the chance to open his foul mouth before the usually terminally shy Hyuuga girl _stomped_ over to him, swept his strikes aside with elegant, curving _Juuken_ blocks and hammered her flaring fingertips into his package – the one on his back, of course *sweatdrop*.

To the onlookers' further surprise, the masked boy dropped, clattering, without having actually been touched, while sounds of surprised pain came from the dropped bundle Hinata seemed to take great pleasure in mangling.

Shortly, the bundle unwrapped, displaying a severely abused puppeteer and everyone recognized his stand-in as the doll it was.

It had taken about seventeen seconds.

Neji's eyes rivaled Kurenai's for size, emulating dinner plates.

Sakura giggled evilly and gave Hinata a thumbs up.

Naruto and Sasuke just stood there, open mouthed.

_(My gods... that was... so... __**beautiful**__!)_

"Um... Winner, Hyuuga Hinata. Medic!"

"Yeah! Go Hinata! You **rock**," Naruto cheered loudly.

Hinata, having barely acknowledged the announcement of her win before, just _flowed_ up the stairs, to Sakura's hidden enjoyment. Oh, the possibilities...

Then the girl rejoined her team and sensei and dropped in a faint, flushed and hyperventilating. Kurenai caught her and softly smiled at her student who for the first time she knew of had broken free from her mental shell of inferiority.

Shino might have smiled too, but with his coat, who could tell?

Lee and Gai – the former clad now mostly in new, blood-flecked bandages holding the cut up remains of his spandex suit together - started declaiming the power of the burning fires of youth, but everybody did their best to ignore them.

Tenten teased Neji about being more careful in riling Hinata, and the older boy tried to rally his belief in unalterable fate.

He just didn't know _what_ fate anymore.

He began to doubt even the _Kaiten_ could have stopped Hinata. At least unless he perfected it...

Kankuro, practically spun, folded and otherwise mutilated in multiple ways, thought he was feeling each and every _tenketsu_ point on his body throbbing in a different rhythm.

He tried to beg the medics for painkillers, but his whole face was numb...

"Yes, yes, don't worry, we'll keep you conscious. We'll have to anyway, to treat your chakra blockades." The boy only cried, soundlessly.

Evil green beast... scary pale eyes...

A Konohaphobia sounded like a nice, safe habit to develop.

oOo

The whispered comments continued for a while, but Hayate, this time not delayed by the necessity of having the arena repaired, proceeded to announce the next and eighth match.

"Let's please continue *wheeze*," he droned, with the next match. Would please," he looked at the board, "Aburame Shino and Akimichi Chouji get on the floor?"

Oh, an Akamichi. Another breakage break after _that_ match seemed highly probable. Nice.

"Hey, Chouji and Shino are next," Naruto – as usual – cheered.

"Very well," Shino nodded and moved on, Kurenai-sensei wishing him success.

"Chouji, if you win, the barbecue will be all-you-can-eat," Asuma promised.

With a rumbling sound, the large boy clenched his fist, resolve in his face and his eyes filled with stars. "I'll do my best, sensei! For the meeeat...!"

He rushed down the stairs to meet his former classmate.

"Hello Shoji," Shino calmly greeted. "Let us have a good match."

"Yeah, let's. But I have to win... FOR THE DELICIOUS MEAT!" he brandished his fist in an almost Gai-like manner, prompting Shino to incline his head sideways quizzically.

"Ah, okay," Hayate wheezed, "have a nice, friendly match then. Begin."

"BARBECUE!" With this battle shout, Chouji leaped forward, "_Baika no jutsu_ – multi-size technique," ballooning out to eight times his normal volume and "_Nikudan Sensha_ – meat bullet tank," pulling limbs and head inside with puffs of chakra and turned himself into the familiar rolling ball shape, immediately charging after Shino.

The usually cool Aburame leapt out of the way with flailing arms, incidentally loosening clouds of _kikaichuu_ bugs.

"Rollrollrollrollrollrollroll...," Chouji rumbled, missing, deflected from the wall, shifted vectors, rolling on, missed again, bounced off again and so on for several trips around the arena, shaking and cracking the walls, Shino always barely a leap to the sides ahead.

The _kikaichuu_ bugs swarmed through the air – on Shino's command avoiding the ground not to be squashed under the Akamichi ball – and formed whirling spirals trying to reach Chouji from the sides along his rotational axis, apparently only to be thwarted by each change of direction.

A frustrated "Tch," escaped the normally stoic Shino when Chouji completed his third full circle of crossing the arena, drawing a spirographic pattern on the ground. While Chouji was burning up chakra by the second, Shino was using up his physical reserves in dodging – who would tire first?

On the other hand, without Chouji showing a reaction yet, with each pass he was collecting a few more bugs hiding in his clothes and draining his chakra.

The race was on.

oOo

To many of the onlookers, the match was made exciting only by the rhythmic impacts of the Akamichi mass, threatening to shake them from their positions.

Naruto, of course, cheered at each crash _and_ at each successful dodge.

Sasuke was annoyed by the continual shaking and quietly complained about the lack of techniques displayed.

Several others followed their examples, foremost Gai, Lee, Ino and Tenten on the cheering front and Neji, Shikamaru and the remaining non-rookies griping.

Okay, Shikamaru was less griping than running a quiet commentary about Chouji's tactics – or lack thereof – easily predicting the result.

oOo

Unfortunately, Chouji's chakra reserves were not sufficient to maintain this maneuvering long enough to tire Shino into missing an evasion, especially since the comparatively few _kikaichuu_ getting through to him were enough to almost double his chakra consumption.

When he finally had to stop he 'poofed' out of the technique and, dizzy beyond previous experiences, simply fell flat on his face, moaning "the barbecueee."

Shino recalled his bugs, which were just starting to dive down on the other boy _en masse_, and gasped a bit, recovering from his own exhaustion.

When Hayate declared him the winner, he helped his former classmate up and just complained: "Chouji, that tactic was too exhausting to us both, too damaging to the environment and too simplistic in general. Another approach might have held more promise. I recommend working on other variants of your clan techniques."

"Heh, I guess Asuma-sensei and Shikamaru both will say something similar," he moaned. "But no all-you-can-eat... oooo..."

No one could tell if the Aburame was smiling as he helped Chouji back up the stairs towards their teams.

oOo

"Well, while the collateral damage due to the last fight is considerable, before we call a repair break this time we'll announce the matchup beforehand. So, the next match will be..." flicker, stop. "Hyuuga Neji versus Tsurugu Misumi."

"Wait a moment, he's a Hyuuga, too? Like that Hinata chick just before?" Misumi asked.

"Yes. He is her cousin and considered a genius and last year's 'rookie of the year'," Tenten sweetly answered, pointing out her teammate, who answered her action with a deeply displeased, freezing stare. Fortunately, _hyouton_ – ice powers – were _not_ the Hyuuga bloodline, otherwise the young weapon mistress might have suffered severe frostbite along with the annoying inquirer.

Who nonetheless shuddered and shouted: "Stronger than _her_ then? Thanks, but no thanks, all I can do is stretch and flex. I forfeit! I give up! I'd like to _live_ to become chuunin, thank you very much. Have fun in the finals. Bye."

And with s 'swoosh' of a _shunshin_ speed technique he was gone, and the officials convened for a short deliberation.

_(Wasn't he one of Kabuto's plants? Whoa, Hinata must have really made an impression, that or this guy wasn't that loyal anyway. Or both. Heh. I can only imagine what Neji must be thinking now... whoa, literally. Nothing from him. Well, one more fact for the file pile...)_ the voice mused, still leaving Sasuke to his own thoughts, currently orbiting around the other remaining contestants.

oOo

"Well, that was easy," Tenten grinned.

"Tenten, if you do something like that again before I have the opportunity to work off my frustration, I'll pick you instead of Lee as taijutsu sparring partner. I'm certain Gai-sensei will confirm that you could use quite a lot of improvement in that area," Neji threatened uncharacteristically, while speaking quietly enough the green menace he had invoked (and his almost-clone) should not have heard.

The girl silently whistled, impressed. "Wow, Neji, you really have listened to these lessons in trash-talking, ne?"

She chuckled at the clueless expression - lessons in trash-talking? - that encrouched on the formerly fuming Hyuuga boy's face and looked over to the female single remaining Sound nin.

"Well, since everybody else is done, we'll be the culmination then, ne? Hey, do you have any wall-shattering moves you intend to use?" She called out to the cow-pattern camouflaged girl, who pointed quizzically to herself, then, when Tenten confirmed with a nod, looked up to her jounin teamleader, who dismissed the query with an annoyed 'do-what-you-will' gesture.

"Not really. You?" Kin answered.

"Nope, me neither. Hey, sirs!" she shouted towards the Hokage's group.

"What?" an annoyed Anko, being in that group, snapped before being calmed by the Hokage himself patting her shoulder.

"Sorry, but me and that Sound girl over there are the last match anyway, and I for my part would like to get home at a reasonable time," she cheekily smiled, "so if we promise not to use wall-shattering moves could we just finish this already?"

Anko had to laugh at that. "Sassy, but I have to admit I like that. How about it, Sir? Hayate? Anyone else?"

Naruto on the other side was grinning widely, with a sky-raised thumb supporting the idea and making the old man smile. "Yeah! Go for it, old man!"

The Hokage let out a short laugh and shook his head good-naturedly. "Why not?"

Hayate sighed, assumed his station and declared: "All right, tenth and last fight for the preliminary round: Tenten and Tsuchi Kin. Ready? Begin."

oOo

Both girls had hurried down to the scratched-up floor and into the starting positions, Tenten grinning like the cat that ate the proverbial canary, Kin smiling a bit less happily, but no less fiercely.

"Welll...," Tenten drawled, playing with a kunai, "When I'm finished I guess my whole team will go to the finals. I think the last time a full team made chuunin on their first try all together was with the Legendary Three, ne? Now that's an achievement to aspire to..."

"Heh, think again. I admit my teammates haven't exactly bathed in glory, but they were creepy freaks anyway. I'm actually happy Dosu bought it. One could work with him, but, well, his bandages weren't just for show, you know," Kin chatted, ready to move at any moment. "Still, we both know who usually is the last one standing in a team, don't we?"

"Not you," yelled Ino but was ignored by the Sound kunoichi.

With a flick she took initiative, whipping a senbon needle at Tenten to test her speed. The chinese-themed girl easily deflected it with her kunai, entering a highly mobile guard position and pulling out a few more kunai with her other hand.

"Hehehe, got to offer something better that that," she laughed, returning an array of sharp missiles and forcing the Sound girl to dodge in apparent panic.

Kin didn't loiter and threw another few senbon, a sudden ringing warning Tenten of a change in technique and tactics. She dodged the bell senbon without problem and blocked the regular ones with another kunai, responding with a sudden hail of far more kunai than Kin had expected. Still, she dodged successfully and decided to up the ante. "_Kage Senbon_ – shadow needles," she invoked, sending a hail of real and illusionary needles towards the Konoha girl, intermixing bells and normal senbon freely.

Tenten dodged and blocked with a bit of concern, especially since the other girl held the fire a bit longer than before, but stayed clear of most of the burst. Only a few small holes in the loose pants of her garb showed her small failure, but none had drawn blood, so she stayed unconcerned about poison, envenomed needles being a fairly common tactic.

Well, what one could do, she could do better, anyway. With an evil grin she whipped out her scrolls and, leaping upward unrolling them, released a swarm of sharp, pointy objects - "_Soushouryuu_ – twin rising dragons" - in the direction of her opponent with deadly aim, peppering her with edged steel.

Her eyes widening at the oncoming metal storm, Kin leaped and ducked, trying to keep her skin as intact as possible. Fully into the rolling evasion but still already badly cut up, a tiny sound suddenly revealed to her an helpful fact which she instantly started to exploit, throwing needles right back into the aerial chop shop.

When her initial barrage ran out Tenten was somewhat concerned – the sound girl apparently hadn't dodged quite as well as she should have been able to, instead returning fire with her needles. Most of them had been deflected by her own weapons, of course, but she wasn't sure some of them hadn't scratched her. Especially since the Sound girl laid there bleeding, but still she heard a ringing in her ears...

Suddenly the bloody girl rose, chirping "I win" and separated into a mass of wavering and weaving duplicates, Tenten unable to distinguish the original from fakes due to sudden, increasing dizziness.

Poison! Shot through her mind. She got me! Got to finish her fast!

With a jerk she pulled the wires connecting several of the dispersed weapons to her hands to direct them at the enemy, but to her surprise the weapons didn't follow her intentions, dancing in directions she did not intend.

"Sorry, meatball head, I heard your wires sing when you tried to dice me up and put my own into play. And since you are nicely confused and dizzy now..." she pulled and waved and Tentens supposedly loyal weapons rose from the ground, both girls fighting for control, but Kin, unaffected by the sonic genjutsu she had set up with her bell senbon, easily dominated the improvised lethal puppet show the dancing weapons started to perform in spite of Tenten's skill with all of her weapons, supported by sonics-spawned hallucinations, seeing her own weapons wielded by her opponents doubles in a way that heavily debiliated her defenses.

Seeing the swarm of weapons rise into the air, whipping here and there, curving around to hit or miss, with both girls flexing their arms to each overcome the other, made the astonishing reversal an awe-inspiring event, maybe not _the_, but at least _one of the_ most exciting fights of the day for the shrunken audience.

(Well, going by public recognition, Sakura was leading by points even though she lost; judging just skill and power, Lee would have won hands down; Chouji had applied the most general collateral damage; no one would deny the most brutal win to Gaara, while the most embarrassing win would go (to his deep shame) to Sasuke; and Hinata definitively _owned_ the total curbstomp award (and would be lethally embarrassed if anyone ever called her on it). Naruto had delivered a good, popular showing and would possibly be tied with the girls' fight for general delivery. Unfortunately, this were the preliminaries and thus, no one made any lasting remarks about that kind of qualifications.

Back to the fight.)

For several exchanges the girls fought for control, but finally Tenten dropped first.

Oh Kami, Neji will never let me live that down, were her last despairing thoughts before everything became dark.

When the Konoha kunoichi stopped resisting Kin let up on the multitudinal tug-of-war guardedly, watching out for a trap, but finally let most of the wires go and limped forward to check up on her opponent, senbon at the ready.

Hayate met her over the dropped Tenten, checking on the girl and declaring Kin the winner, once again with the exasperated addition "Medic!", especially since Kin also was on the edge of passing out.

oOo

Sakura shuddered. So – many – sharp - pointy – things... She couldn't help imagining herself at the center of such a storm and firmly resolved to keep improving her evasion skills as much as possible.

Skin care wouldn't help much if there were more scars than skin anyway, and she desired to still have occasional use for some cosmetics, even if she recognized the need to set those on the back burner for awhile. The point might be to value capability over looks, but no one would expect her to completely forgo a little care if her main priority didn't suffer, right? Hell, not a single one of her possible role models was an _ugly_ or even unattractive kunoichi.

As long as she could pull her weight along with her teammates. That _was_ now top priority, to get Sasuke to recognize her as a valuable partner, and then...

She enjoyed the warm fuzzy feeling for a second, until she remembered.

Gaah, stop, no backsliding! She _forced_ her thoughts back on track.

Fortunately Naruto energetically wanted to talk about the matches, and this time she welcomed the distraction. Besides, maybe she could sneak a few comments in and give the blond some ideas...

"Well, well, well... Now we'll see how the actual finals will look like," Kakashi mused.

"Both our team and Gai's have two members each, Team Eight will enter in full strength, then Shikamaru and the two non-Konoha nins left. The Kazekage probably will not be happy his kids were that unlucky in their fights, but as an ally he is expected with most of the other dignitaries. Maa, I see some diplomatic hiccups in the future..." Shaking his head, he went to the other teachers and officials.

"_I have to agree with Kakashi. While I'm personally happy with most of the results, this has the potential to become seriously FUBAR,"_ a concerned voice echoed in Sasuke's head.

The boy flinched. So you're still there, then? Why have you been silent?

"_I had to sort a few things out as well as looking over the seal sealing and adding a few touches myself. Let me just say your chakra is in good condition again, a little low for now, but you should recover that with a good night's rest,"_ the voice reported.

Good. Hm... dignitaries? The Kazekage? I never realized the exams were that important an event.

"_*Sigh* Let me guess, when the Hokage explained, you didn't listen, right?"_

Hrn. Forgive me for being a little preoccupied.

"_Fortunately it really isn't that important, you can catch up with the politics later. Now get on the floor with the others, the final roster will be determined now."_

oOo

Meanwhile, the Hokage and his entourage – Ibiki, Anko and Hayate mainly – had conferred with the jounin senseis about the results and the remaining kids.

Same candidates had been called down and stood there expectantly:

Sasuke and an overexcited Naruto, an exhausted Shino, a fidgeting Hinata, yawning Shikamaru, a still slightly pissed Neji and an agitated Lee.

Gaara, Kiba and Kin were still out of commission and missing from the lineup.

That made eight Leaf nin, one Sand and one Sound.

The Hokage congratulated those still present and explained the further proceedings.

"So, we'll determine now the first round of fights and then you have one month to prepare, until the dignitaries have arrived and the public exam is held. Now orderly pick a number from this box. For those not present, their teachers will pick.

"Uchiha Sasuke!" Ibiki, handling this step, called out the names.

"Hrn. Ten," the boy grumbled.

"Hee hee, who is the dead last now?" "Shut up."

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Right, yeah! Hmmm... Six? Or is that a Nine? Ah, okay. Six." Ibiki pointed out the helpful orientation mark with a stony face, while Anko giggled at the antics.

"Hrm. Aburame Shino."

"One," the tired boy stated.

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"Here ... um. Four," Hinata determined.

"Inuzuka Kiba. Kurenai-sensei?"

"For Kiba, Eight," she called out.

"Gaara, Baki."

"Nine for Gaara," rumbled the half-masked man.

Naruto stage-whispered: "Certain it's not a six?" "Shut up, slacker."

"Nara Shikamaru."

"Three," the boy drawled.

"Tsuchi Kin. Um... since her sensei is still with her other teammate, the Hokage will draw. Sarutobi-sama?"

"Seven." "Noted."

"Hyuuga Neji."

"Five."

"And finally, Rock Lee."

Formally the green-clad boy took the last number and announced it: "Two."

oOo

"Very well. So the finals matches will be:

"Aburame Shino versus Rock Lee."

"Yosh! Let us deliver a glorious spectacle, my cloaked comrade!"

"..." If I want a chance, I'll have to resort to _these_ kinds of techniques...

"The winner facing the winner of:

"Nara Shikamaru versus Hyuuga Hinata."

"Troublesome..." Oh god oh god oh god don't piss her off before the match...

"Umm..." Shikamaru is usually so nice... I don't want to hurt him - too much...

"Hyuuga Neji versus Uzumaki Naruto."

"Heh." Another annoyance who has no chance but to suffer his fate.

"Yeah! Hey, Neji, even if you and Hinata are cousins, I won't go easy on you! Don't expect another freebie."

"I never expected one in the first place, Uzumaki. I'll show you your place," Neji grumbled.

"Yeah, first place. Believe it," yelled the orange annoyance.

"Shut up!" growled Ibiki. "And whoever wins will face the next match's winner - Tsuchi Kin versus Inuzuka Kiba. Hrm, both still out of it...

"Next then, Gaara versus Uchiha Sasuke. The winner will face the one who won the second round of the first matches."

"Hey, that means he gets a freebie through the second round? Sasuke, you suck!"

"Yeah, Naruto, because after fighting _Gaara_ I will just _breeze_ to the final round smelling like a rose. Want to swap?" Sasuke offered sarcastically, thinking of Gaara's power. Power... hmmm.

"Um, if you put it that way... my condolences, Sasuke, mostly nice to have known you," Naruto deadpanned.

"Maa, maa, keep it down, you two," Kakashi admonished from the sidelines.

"Now that we finished that, most of you have seen what your opponents can do. So use the month to prepare and do your best to earn the title and responsibilities of a chuunin," the Hokage closed.

The candidates present showed their respect and left, going to meet again with their teammates and teachers.

_("Gaara again... I have no idea what his fight has done to him. Am I here just to see Sasuke killed? No, I have to think... come up with some idea to tweak his training... __**Chidori**__ alone might not cut it... and I still have to guide Sasuke and find out how and why I get these intermittent flashes from other minds. Oh Kami, this will be a busy month...")_ the voice waffled, a bit overwhelmed.

oOo

oOo

Omake: the finals match list

Block A

01 Aburame Shino

02 Rock Lee

l

03 Nara Shikamaru

04 Hyuuga Hinata

Block B

05 Hyuuga Neji

06 Uzumaki Naruto

l

07 Tsuchi Kin

08 Inuzuka Kiba

Block C (Winner fights victor of Block A vs Block B )

09 Gaara

10 Uchiha Sasuke

oOo

oOo

Pre-AN: Le sigh. Okay, FF-Net ate the omake formatting, so I had to re-edit it a bit.

Main AN: Sigh. I'm not satisfied with several of the fights in this chapter. Maybe I should have put more planning in the matchups instead of letting the die choose, but once set I was determined to keep them that way.

Unfortunately, in the exam, Yoroi didn't show much general ability beyond his chakra drain, and Kiba – well, I just don't have much of a rapport with canines in general. So this match got the short end of the stick, sorry.

Similarly, the pairing of Shino versus Chouji didn't let either of them show their potential and since I decided not to have them pull new techniques out of their asses I chose this result, even if Shino winning once again refills the finals roster with canon staple. Oh well, with the removal of the other sand siblings alone the roster has changed significantly enough, anyway.

And having Kin win – another fight I had trouble with - incidentally removes her from being _kinjutsu_ fodder... yes, I love messing up Orochimaru's (canon) plans. Unfortunately that won't mean he will just moan and go emo at the finals... that guy goes just crazy with planning.

On the other hand, writing Lee is **fun**, especially when he _has_ a chance to shine. Boosting his vocabulary with a few Kuno-isms just fit so well too... I just wouldn't want to do a full fic with him... ^^

Hinata – I think this way of describing her fight, implied instead of blow-by-blow, also was pure pleasure. I don't hate Kankuro, but _any_ Hyuuga _is_ probably the absolute worst opponent he could face, being easily capable to see through his replacement trick. And having Hinata go on a Naruto-induced rampage is delightfully scary. Thanks to anyone who featured that concept before, you know who you are.

Hm, I just noticed I had Naruto's fight in the second chapter written in the same flavor. Is my subconscious trying to tell me something? Or is it just that the two are a favorite pairing of mine, so they tend to nicely mesh together?

Oh well, any well-written pairing can be a good pairing, and for now I won't bother much with them anyway; opening a way for Sakura and Sasuke does **not** mean they will end up together, though the probability becomes stronger. In a way, Sakura growing could just as well lead to SakuNaru, even if she for now seems to promote NaruHina... ^^

Feh, they are all 12-13, so it's too early for anything serious anyway.

Still, the prelims are finally DONE, so we'll have time again for some personal developments – and mad training, of course. And Emo Gaara? We'll see. ^^

Once more I rolled randomly for the matches, and weirdly, Gaara/Sasuke happens, just as Naruto/Neji does. Hm. Now, how do I tweak things to avoid copying canon? Or should I do just that?

Another thing to work at, but it more and more looks like Oro-creepy-maru has a busy month in front of him, changing and adjusting his plans.

And here I babble on in this Author's Note and just discover it's a whole page all by itself. Okay, it's the biggest chapter yet, too. Well, if I _do_ have to torture myself, the least I can do is share the pain... Log out. ^^

oOo

Next: Raven Chatter Part Five: Four Weeks of Fun, Part One

The Raven keeps its own counsel. Once his shadow hangs above your door, no words will soothe him, no prayer remove him, and you will hear his voice forevermore.

"_You don't understand something, boy. __**This isn't a partnership**__. You __**will**__ listen, and either you will learn or I will __**break**__ you!"_

oOo


	5. Part 5 Four Weeks of Fun Part 1

AN:

Repeated declaration: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, _italicized_ segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.

And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.

I also don't own the Alan Parsons Project. I just snatched a few lines.

On that matter, a few small apo_**log**_ies to Third Fang, even if he most probably doesn't even know about this fic. If you catch it, you know why ^^

oOo

During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.

But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to _undermine_ the sannin's influence? And **knows** things?

And now the changes are piling up... will things become better or worse in the long run?

oOo

Raven Chatter

The Raven keeps its own counsel. Once his shadow hangs above your door, no words will soothe him, no prayer remove him, and you will hear his voice forevermore.

Part Five: Four Weeks of Fun, Part One

oOo

Sasuke, still feeling rather scruffy and beat, but finally back in Konoha, had actually enjoyed a relaxed supper with his team and sensei – ramen, of course; you may try to deflect the nearly unstoppable force of culinary tunnel vision, but a wise man goes with the flow.

Not that ramen was _that_ unpalatable, but 24-7-52? No thanks. Boiled tomatoes were worse than no tomatoes at all...

Now he was on the way to his home, alone. Kakashi had told them to get a good night's rest and to meet him the following morning for planning their training schedules. Finally, he would have a few hours without pressure...

"_So. We'll have nearly four weeks for your training – and Naruto's too, let's not forget him and Sakura. Even if she won't compete, she can use the time too to maybe catch up to you two a bit. I hope Kakashi doesn't forget his promises. Also, there are a few more things I'll have to do to you, and we should keep your eyes and ears open so we don't miss an opportunity to throw a few more spanners in Orochimaru's plans,"_ listed the voice in Sasuke's head.

He had almost become used to it already in the couple of days since he had gained his invisible advisor, but still...

Yeah, yeah, I know... Wait a moment – do _**to**_ me?

"_Yyyes," drawled the voice. "My dear Sasuke, as much as I like you – not that I have much of a choice, being bound in you and all – I have to deliver a few big whammies to your ego and preconceptions. I have dampened a few of your worst impulses, but soon we'll have to address these and I know you won't like what I have to tell you at all. No, not a bit."_

That Sasuke was shocked was an understatement. He froze and began to shake in disappointed anger. Whammies? Ego? Dampened?

So you _do_ manipulate me! And I had almost begun to trust you... Damn! How the hell do I get rid of you? Grrr...

"_Calm down. I __**do**__ mean well. I __**will**__ tell you what this is all about, but I know you, boy, and thus I know convincing you of some important truths will be an uphill battle or a brutal fight. I have been soft on you because you were tired, stressed and just not ready. When you are rested, your chakra will be in better balance and you should be able to take it. Just consider this a fair warning."_

The voice in his head started to thunder in an intimidating tone very similar to that of the scarred Morino Ibiki, the one who had proctored the first exam and the actual head of the IT department (Interrogation and Torture):

"_The time wasn't right then, but now we can __**make**__ time. You don't understand something, boy. __**This isn't a partnership**__. (Yet.) You __**will**__ listen, and either you will learn or I will __**break**__ you! There are things that will happen, things that may happen, and things that must happen, and you are right in the middle of most of it. And I will do my __**best**__ to make sure you __**survive**__ and avoid the worst mistakes you... could make."_

Sasuke was close to a panic attack, short of breath, his heart racing. The voice in his head had turned from a chattering, slightly annoying but wise companion into a literal demon, and there was nothing he could do about it that wouldn't harm himself more than _it_.

And he couldn't even think of something because it could read every coherent thought, so whatever he might come up with it would know in advance and be able to counter it...

"_Damn right! Good to see you begin to understand. And that probably is the least of the things I will have to make you deal with. Now calm down, go home, and get some rest,"_ the voice ordered. _"Here, I'll help you."_

A soft, rhythmic pulse began to echo through his chakra, slowly but smoothly slowing his heart rate and evening out his breath rhythm.

"_Listen, boy, if you can take what I have to tell you and if I can make you __**understand**__ this can __become__ a kind of partnership again. For tonight, rest. Forget for now, when you are rested you will remember."_

Once again, what the voice had said became unimportant for now, fading into the background like an old dream. The shock faded with the memory, but Sasuke still felt very, very tired. Too tired, in fact, to do more than go home, freshen up a little, drop into his bed and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep, undisturbed by forceful voices threatening with awful truths...

_(Heh, nice. This chakra-massaging memory-dampening trick works even better than expected, and I used it only for the second time. Fortunately he doesn't know how easily he could resist it if he wanted to keep remembering, but that's why it works best with unwelcome memories. Well then, while he sleeps I can start cataloguing what other tricks I can scrape together...)_

oOo

_("Soo, his chakra stores are back to normal and all his cuts, scratches and other little pains are in negligible condition. The cursed seal of heaven is bound – I really wonder about Orochimaru at that name, but if the flash I had was real, he's just as loony as Obito-Madara's Tobi identity – and now it requires a conscious act of will to activate equal to what previously was needed to suppress it. I'll retract the chakra shrouds now and we'll see if I can't beat sense into his mind before he actually starts training.")_

The voice took a metaphoric deep breath. _"GOOD MORNING SASUKEEE!"_

"GAH!" The boy _shot_ awake, snapped a kunai at the door and rolled out of bed into a defensive posture, holding another kunai instantly in a parrying grip.

"_Good rection time and reflexes. Still, I wonder what always prompts these reactions... Usually one should think someone shouting at you when you're asleep is __**not**__ someone who wants to immediately harm you, to trigger these reflexes,"_ the voice mused, picturing walking around the room, evaluating Sasuke's stance and nodding at the kunai in the door, like Kakashi might do in such a situation.

What – who – why – oh.

With a slight delay, Sasuke finished waking.

"_Okay, now that we got your adrenaline running and blood flowing, clean up, eat a light breakfast and start on light calisthenics as morning training. Get to it," _the voice commanded.

Sasuke obeyed unthinking, caught in one of Kakashi's _sucessfully_ ingrained responses. Only as he started stretching he felt the doubt rise.

Hey, wait a moment, wasn't I supposed to meet Kakashi for the planning session?

"_That's in two hours, four to five with his usual habits – which we will try to wean him off. For now, you belong to __**me**__, and that time should be enough for at least the first step in your __**other**__ training,"_ the voice bellowed, keeping him mentally off-balance.

Hey, what 'other' training – oh damn!

The memories rushed back with the accompanying emotions, all the verbal and emotional abuse the voice had thrust upon him coming back to mind clearly.

"NO!" he cried, holding his head. "You're lying – don't talk to me that way – take it back – GAAH!"

_(Well, that's __**his**__ crisis point, I think – let's hope I work him the right way.)_

The voice let him deal a few moments with the shock before raising its voice again – which was a damn weird thought, when one thought about it. Maybe they would come up today with an acceptable designation...

"_So, finished?"_

"You just let me remember you insulting me, my motives and my clan and now you just ask whether I'm _finished_? Damn you, I'll find a way to shut you up and if it's the last thing I do!" Sasuke hissed.

The voice threw him another curveball: _"Before or after you kill your brother?"_

"Whu-," Sasukes mind, feverishly raging, ran into the first mental wall today.

"You! You made me forget my life goal! How dare-" the voice interrupted him.

"_I made you ignore your blind hatred for a day, yes. And now, think about the results. THINK, BOY!"_ Sasuke froze at the tone.

"_You accepted the need to set Sakura on a better path and – with my help – acted on it. You managed to have a respectful conversation with Kakashi and managed to earn __**his**__ respect – for a while, at least. You actually accepted Naruto just a bit and he responded with taking you seriously also. And finally and most importantly I managed to let you see Orochimaru's offer as the insult and manipulative lure that it is. Is anything of this even remotely bad?"_

"But – _that man_ – I need to – power - ," Sasuke stammered angrily.

"_So you just would have thrown that all away to __**do what he told you to**__? Continue to blindly believe his lies and take your revenge on him __**just because he told you so**__? You were thinking of killing a friend in the future __**because he said so**__? OPEN YOUR EYES, BOY!"_

"But – "

"_He slaughtered your clan, yes, yes, you have spent each day reminding yourself on that. On that LIE. Sasuke, you have been manipulated to believe a vast lie to cover up an even bigger one. You have been mindfncked the day it happened, and you need to deal."_

"Lie? What lie?"

"_First, the lie Itachi told you when you faced him that night. He lied to you about what really happened and why. Yes, he made you see it repeatedly for three days, but HELL, BOY, __**Tsukoyomi**__ is an __**illusion**__! He made you see __**what **__**he**__** wanted**__, not necessarily what really happened. You have known him for years, he is your brother, and in your heart you know the Itachi you knew was not a mask, that he never would have done what he did for the reasons he claimed. That's why you hate him – he made you hate him – but you still believe everything he claimed you must do – because you still __**believe **__**in him**__."_

"No, that – no, how – no - THEN WHY?" Sasuke yelled.

"_ARE YOU WILLING TO LISTEN TO ME NOW AND LET ME EXPLAIN IT?"_ the voice yelled, all intent of breaking through his instinctive rejection of everything that was going against his expectations.

oOo

It took a few more approaches, but after some time the voice had worn down Sasuke. Being unignorable _was_ a slightly unfair advantage, as was insight into his mental and emotional makeup.

"Okay," Sasuke gasped, slumping against the wall and dropped his head on his arms braced on his knees. "I'll listen for now. But I don't promise anything."

"_As long as you are willing to believe me far enough to think about it yourself, I can live with that. Now, the origins of it all go back decades, maybe centuries, but for now the important things are what happened to your family and why. You remember what I told you about your clan to get through your arrogance?"_

"My arrogance? Why, you –" he faltered. "I think I know what time you mean," Sasuke admitted.

"_Yes, the good points about your clan and that you need to live up to them, not assume you were born with that. Now I must admit I left out a few bad parts. Your whole clan __**had**__ developed a tendency to think as you did, that they were superior and deserving of respect just because of what they were. That caused some tensions between the Uchiha and the rest of Konoha. Especially since a certain someone formented discord from the shadows."_

"A certain someone?"

"_An old man, old beyond belief. A man full of hatred and jealousy. He once was the leader of your clan and one of the founders of Konohagakure, even if against his own desires. He fell to darkness, addicted to power and the secrets of the __**Mangekyou Sharingan**__, as well as succumbing to your clan's inner flaw. He felt forced to leave and blamed his own clan, your clan. Ever since he worked on taking vengeance on the village and his own clan. In spite of what the stories tell of the battle at the Valley of the End, Uchiha Madara lives, and his machinations led to the almost complete destruction of the Uchiha."_

"Uchiha_ Madara_? But it was Itachi who-,"

"_Not completely. Listen to what I can tell you. Madara opposed the founding, but was overruled by his peers. He believes the Uchiha would be suppressed, and in a way, he was right, but it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. You Uchiha have always been proud, to the point of arrogance, with few exceptions. I'll admit, in a lot of cases it was justified, but it became a general trend and that led to Madara easily manipulating you. Sorry, but I have to emphasize that: you Uchiha are frighteningly easy to manipulate in that direction."_

"I resent that remark. I can't believe-"

"_You are. If I had not interfered, you would have swallowed Orochimaru's offer hook, line and sinker. From anger and jealousy."_

Jealousy?

"_Later. For now, your clan history. Believe it, you as a clan have shared the triggers that allowed Madara to raise doubt in your clan's treatment by Konoha, anger on perceived slights and jealousy for the other clans' public renown. He made them believe they were being pushed into a position of servitude, and they reacted just as he planned - by pushing back. The tensions rose in secret first, and by the time the Hokage learned of the problem it was too late. He did what he could to find a diplomatic solution, but the Uchiha – yes, under leadership of your father – were finally planning an uprising, a civil war that would have ripped Konoha to shreds, just as Madara wished."_

"I can't believe...," Sasuke mumbled.

"_If you search your memories and look at them with a clear view you can. Remember when __Fugaku, __your father, had secret meetings he didn't__ talk about when he knew you were there? When he suddenly stopped praising Itachi soon after he entered ANBU and Itachi on several occasions put his missions before 'clan business'? When you managed the Great Fireball Technique, the __**Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu**__, do you remember what he said to you? 'Do not follow in Itachi's footsteps'. You remember your confusion. Your father already suspected Itachi was turning away from the clan and hoped you would replace him. You were seven when you first tried. He put you down comparing you to Itachi, but within barely a week of training you did it! _

"_You showed just as much promise as Itachi, but you never saw that because as a child you couldn't see, you didn't - couldn't know, that Itachi's career started during war times. You live in a time of peace. Had there been the pressure of war, you would have advanced just as fast as Itachi – and probably would have been just as severely traumatized. _

"_Itachi had learned to hate war and violence, and when he became ANBU your father expected him to use his position to keep the clan informed, spying for him. Itachi saw the discontent and weighted his loyalty to Konoha higher than to his clan and started to spy on __**them**__ as a double agent. _

"_The Hokage tried, as I told you, to find a peaceful solution, but his advisors went behind his back, prodded by Shimura Danzou. They believed the Hokage's tries to be too little, too late and instead ordered Itachi to wipe out the clan, becoming the lone scapegoat so no one could doubt the reputation of Konoha. Still, he believed what he was told to do was right and for the best, so he accepted the order like any good, loyal soldier._

"_Itachi had met Madara, who tricked him, I expect, into believing some of his crazed visions of the past and future and had his help that night. I don't know all what happened, what was done to the infirm and children, but I believe what Itachi didn't do, Madara did and whomever he secretly brought along. It wasn't until much later that Itachi learned the truth about Madara, but by then it was too late. _

"_But you were his beloved little brother. He never wanted to, could not kill you no matter what Madara or the Elders wanted. Instead that guilt-ridden idiot boy decided to make you the tool of his __**judgement**__. _

"_He did not try to 'test his capacity', he just told you that to set you on this path to revenge, so you would either hate him and kill him, or reject him and forge a new path and, in either case, unknowing of the clan's dark history, you would that way redeem the clan name and forge a new beginning. Now he roams the land, working still in Konoha's interest, under cover so deep he himself almost has forgotten, within an organisation that Madara created to be the agency of his hate and mad ambition, but meanwhile waiting for death and wishing for it to be by your hand so he can atone. And that is most of the truth of that night."_

oOo

Several times Sasuke had tried to get a word in sidewise, or just formulate a thought, but the voice went on and on, drowning him in recollections and new interpretations of old presumptions. It all went too fast, was too much...

Now he broke down and shouted: "STOP IT!"

"How the hell do you know all this, how the hell do you know what happened to me? You weren't there, no one was there who is even still alive except Itachi, and hell, I don't even know about half the stuff you tell me," he snapped in desperation.

"_I was where you were,"_ the voice softly murmured. _"I learned what you later learned. I have heard Madara himself rant and rave about his plans and once I even believed his version of the truth. I went to Orochimaru, gained power and killed him - for a while._ _I saw Itachi finally seal Orochimaru virtually forever, before I witnessed his last caress and his dead body__."_

The voice changed, becoming female in tone. Pale, washed-out pictures rose in his mind, short snippets, many of which he _almost_ recognized.

"_I saw you go and wept my eyes out. I tried to forgive you no matter what you did next to sink even deeper. I hated you. I loved you. I refused to give up on you. I finally __**tried**__ to give up on you"_

The voice wavered, echoed and shifted between male and female so quickly, so often, it became impossible to pin one or the other label on it. The pictures came faster, became weirder, hammering his heart, many strangely familiar.

"_I wanted revenge so much I left all ties behind me and tried to shatter what I couldn't simply leave. I taught you my only original technique. I saw Konoha a smoking crater and Naruto, yes, my dear, stupid, ingenious, annoying, wise, hated, loved, ignored, undaunted, irrepressible Naruto fight the monster that did it with powers we never had expected. I died that day and came back to life because of what he managed to do. I decided we had to kill you when you went around the deep end. I always remembered the good times along with the bad. I followed Danzou to the Five Kage summit and tried to kill him. I saw Madara toy with you and set you up. I saw Danzou display what he had secretly gained from the Uchiha massacre. I saw the Fourth Great Ninja War begin. I saw the dead walk the earth again and fight for the end of all. My heart nearly broke as I learned what had happened to my best friend. I saw Madara, laughing on the edge of all destruction. I saw the blood moon blink. _

The voice calmed down again, turning and staying male, but kept echoing through Sasuke's head and heart.

"_I have seen all and nevermore shall it happen again that way. I have seen the future. I have been the future. You are my past, and I am you as you might have become. I am many. Of those who fought at the last battle. Of those who knew you, of some you knew once. _

"_I am a remnant, a chakra spirit formed of the will of those who despaired but dared to hope in spite of everything. I am what the power of all the Tailed Beasts together managed to collect and send back through space and time with a technique believed impossible. I am truth. I am lies. I know what we knew. _

"_One part of me is you." _

"_And that is something we both should forget most of for now."_

Sasuke fell unconscious, overwhelmed by the voice's intensity and the truths it had poured on him.

"_But now you knew once, so you will know in your heart. And I knew but I won't. I'll riddle along what I truly am until it is time again to know. Team Seven, in whatever form, is an important part of the future, just as the others are, and without all of them and Konoha itself, the future simply isn't worth it."_ With each sentence, the voice's echo dimmed, until it became what it had been before.

Sasuke would rest another few dozen minutes, then it would be time to start again bending events to the better. The voice hoped he would be coherent enough once he woke. But he would work on the Uchiha boy without cease, guide him and make him see the consequences of whatever he decided to do.

And, just maybe, he would finally get a name.

oOo

The nameless voice sighed. Some time had passed, and with his help, the Uchiha bo- Sasuke's chakra had calmed again, hopefully a sign he had digested the first shocks the voice had inflicted on him. Now it might be time for other things...

"_Yo, boy, wake up."_

Mmm...

"_Wakey, wakey, Kakashi's a flakey."_

Mmm-hehe-mmm...

"_(Okay, I need stronger ammunition, but just yelling again... I got something.)"_

The voice 'grinned' evilly and 'inhaled'.

"_SAASUKE-KUUN!"_ he squealed in a high voice.

With a snap, the boy was awake and hanging from the ceiling, wildly searching for the source of the fright that had awakened him.

"_Erhem. Time to meet up with Kakashi. You can finish waking up once you start waiting for him."_

Whu-what-huh?

"_Calm down, move your feet and walk to the meeting area."_

"Hurm," Sasuke grumbled.

"_Move it!"_ the voice commanded.

"Yeah, yeah...," Sasuke followed the advice and, once more checking his outfit and hygiene, moved out.

He walked slowly, thinking about what he had been told (and remembered). It was a weird feeling; part of him wanted to ignore all he had heard, another part embraced some things and rejected others, a third part wanted to just get on with his life, go out and kill Itachi and forget everything else, another wanted to go and find him and hug him and squeeze him and make him say sorry – bleargh!

How the heck am I to deal with this? He finally asked silently.

"_Simple answer: However you want to. Serious answer: You think seriously about it and decide what you want to do with your life. It's called 'finding yourself again'. Taking away the core thought you have built all your life's motivation around leaves a big, gaping hole in your soul, I can understand that very well. It is your choice whether you fill that hole up with something new or fully break through and go out that open door into the infinite possibilities of the world around you."_

Your allegories suck.

"_Heh. That may be, but doesn't make the words less true. But I guess, the main question is: Do you still want to go kill Itachi?"_

Yes! - No! - I-I don't know.

"_Search your feelings, Sasuke."_

He thought for a few dozen steps.

*Sigh* The urge is still there, but the justification is all messed up. If I believe what you said my reasons for hating him are completely messed up. If I don't believe you I have something in my head I can't trust. Whatever I try, I lose. Not to mention I've got the weird sensation of examining my own mind from the outside. Did you do something else to me again?

"_Not really. I might be calming your chakra to keep you rational rather than emotional though, which is only a minor influence, since you __**have**__ the ability to think things through logically, you just never applied that process to your real issues."_

I feel insulted.

"_Actually, that was praise with just a little poke at your former obsession."_

That is it. The intensity is gone. You broke my obsession.

"_Did you just try to make a joke? And that should be a good thing."_

Hrn. I don't know where that came from, must be from this self-analyzing effect you gave me. I feel lost, though. Hating Itachi was my drive. Now I just trundle along confused.

"_Um, did I overdo it with the calming?"_

I don't know. Why don't you just let my chakra go and watch the results?

"_Oh, good, your sarcasm coil is not damaged either."_

"Hrn."

oOo

"_Okay, if you haven't come to a conclusion yet, try to push it out of your mind for now, we're there. And at least Naruto and Sakura are here already."_

Okay.

Perhaps to establish a familiar routine, Kakashi had chosen their usual meeting spot at the bridge. That was about all that was familiar that day, though.

Naruto and Sakura were quietly talking. Quietly. Talking. Naruto. And Sakura.

Sasuke felt a slight pang of unreality (_"Jealousy?"_), but after what had happened to him this morning already it barely counted.

Not to mention Sakura had changed her outfit. She had kept her red color scheme, but exchanged her _cheongsam_-like overdress for a practically-sleeved long tight tunic, just a bit thicker than her former sleeveless dress, but still allowing full mobility. The lower portion was a little shorter, but wider and of equal length all around instead of long in the front and back and high-cut or slit at the sides. She also had added light knee and shin protectors to her usual pants.

Naruto, of course, was still wearing his usual eyesore of a bright orange overall- jumpsuit- outfit-... _thing_. Heck, going by its condition it was still the same he had worn during the forest exam.

"... in that case, why not just go with a darker shade? There's red like this," she knocked on the brightly red painted wooden railing, "and red like that."

She indicated her sleeve. Yes, it seemed to be a more subdued shade than before... wait a moment, Sakura and Naruto talking about _fashion_?

Sasuke quickly looked around and opened his chakra senses wide. If Kakashi was punctual... Phew. No hint of their teacher. The world was still safe.

"Sasuke-kun, good morning," Sakura waved to him leisurely. Leisurely? She had really, really learned.

"Yo, Sasuke," Naruto greeted absently. He seemed to be thinking. That must have been the reason he skipped the habitual insult.

"Hr-morning," Sasuke answered, catching himself. Even if he had overacted a bit talking to Kakashi the day before, he had to admit the voice had been basically right regarding teams and teammates, now he just had to truly accept it.

"Giving fashion tips to Naruto? What's the world coming to?" he drily joked. Or said sarcastically. He actually wasn't sure anymore. Hrn, it would depend how they would take it.

Okay, Naruto pouted and probably would soon complain, yell and insult him back.

"Well, actually I just learned Naruto only has a few sets of clothing, almost all these ... things - sorry, Naruto, but it's true – and I was making a few suggestions. By the way, you still haven't told me why," she adressed Naruto, who was now pouting embarrassedly instead of building steam.

"Well, as I said, I _do_ like orange, and it's not my fault these are the only things the shopkeeper sells me without making a fuss," he mumbled.

"Well then," Sakura said, "just look for another vendor. We have at least a dozen tailors and seamstresses in the village, some of them should have..." she broke off as Naruto shook his head.

"He's the only one in Konoha who sells me anything," he said matter-of-factly. "The others seem to have really weird business hours, they're always closing just as I come in and kick me out or demand extra for overtime, and I just can't pay that much. My usual tailor still is the cheapest."

"_Ask him how much he pays."_ Why? _"What do your shirts usually cost, for instance?" _Um, about one hundred fifty ryou. _"Just ask."_

"What can one set of these cheap things cost, for that matter?" he chose to ask.

"I know they are not high fashion, bastard. Still, nine thousand ryou isn't something I can pay every day, plus the alterations," he indicated the spiral marks, "add another three... I need to eat too, you know."

Sasuke and Sakura were stunned. He paid for one of these stupid ... suits... over _how many_ ryou? That was simply ridiculous... what the hell?

"Hey, slacker, just to compare, what do you usually pay for your food a month?"

"Umm, I usually buy mostly ramen and milk, everything else is so expensive... let me think... six packs of milk - 120 ryou a month, a box pack of cup ramen times thirty for a whole month... a few extra things for variety, the old man told me to do that..., fortunately Ichiraku's is really cheap...," he began to count on his fingers while Sakura and Sasuke listened unbelieving. "Yeah, about three-five per month. Plus all the other stuff I have to pay for... well, I ordinarily need all the mission pay I get just to replace the kunai and other stuff I use up. At least we're out of the academy now, so I don't have to pay for new books every other month anymore..."

Sasuke had big eyes now, and Sakura for some reason felt like crying.

"... Kami, Naruto, I knew a lot of people don't like you for some reason, but...," Sakura swallowed.

"... ripping you off like _that_," Sasuke continued, hardly knowing what to think.

Naruto seemed surprised. "Oh, _that's_ what it is? I always thought being a ninja just doesn't pay well, even if it's the coolest ever. That's okay then. I just thought the uh- ecomony was really bad, but if it's just me it's not so bad."

His teammates couldn't believe their ears. Naruto was cheated out of his money and just dismissed the idea because it was 'only him'? What the hell was going on here?

"And what is that supposed to mean, you idiot? They are cheating you, making you pay triple or even ten times the normal prices and you say 'that's okay then'?" Sasuke was slightly pissed. Naruto being ripped off didn't mean that much to him, but the dichotomy had hit him. Everybody had tried to curry favor with himself, pushing favors and gifts onto him, while Naruto was continually rejected. And no one knew why or at least nobody admitted to knowing.

Naruto shrugged. "I'm used to being hated."

"Why the hell would people hate you so much?" Sakura demanded.

"_Because people are stupid,"_ the voice murmured somberly.

"Because people are idiots," Naruto shrugged, dismissing the problem.

"_Heh. Close enough,"_ the voice smugly confirmed.

You know what's going on?

"_Yes, but I won't tell you. Don't ask. It's simply not my place to say. Just as it would not be my place to tell others about your clan."_

Sasuke searched for reasons to get either the voice or Naruto himself to talk, but was interrupted by Kakashi's arrival.

oOo

"Good morning, my cute little students," Kakashi smiled, as he suddenly appeared behind Sakura, even if you only could tell by his single uncovered eye.

"YEEK- oh, it's you," Sakura recovered unexpectedly quick.

Hrm, Kakashi mused, this alternative is losing effect too fast, I need something else to keep my little students on their toes.

"You're less late than usual," she continued, smiling. "Do you have something interesting for us, sensei?"

Uh oh, Kakashi thought, producing a small sweatdrop.

"Um, well, I think so, Sakura," he hastily said, collecting all three in a little team hug around their necks. Better start with her, he thought.

"So, Sakura, even if you aren't going to be in the finals, I called in a few favors and found a substitute teacher to take care of you during the month. He'll test you on the basics and help you determine in what area you should get instruction, then work with you on that. Sakura-chan, meet Ebisu, special jounin and teaching specialist" he declared and indicated the black-clad man, who had sometime ago appeared just a few steps beside them, unnoticed by the genin.

"Ah! The closet pervert!" Naruto had broken free and now pointed rudely at the teacher, who pushed his sunglasses higher, anger vein on his forehead pulsing.

"Uzumaki-san, since I'm not here to get annoyed by you, would it hurt you to be at least a little bit polite?" he asked, actively trying to stay calm.

"Hmph. What could someone like _you_ teach Sakura, anyway? You couldn't even deal with Konohamaru," Naruto challenged.

"Because you- No. no, that isn't it," Ebisu forced himself to calm down. Kami, the kyuubi brat – no, the Uzumaki boy - had a real talent to get on people's nerves...

"Since then, I have come to the conclusion Konohamaru is, or might have become, too similar to you, Uzumaki-san. You both simply need another approach to being taught than I was used to. I have by now adapted to better work on the honorable grandson of the Hokage when needed again I believe. (And I actually should thank you for that.) I simply ask you to let me peacefully try to teach your teammate, who I believe is better suited to my original type of teaching anyway."

Naruto harrumphed. "Very well, but If you mess that up I'll send you rocketing to dreamland again and again," he threatened.

Sakura, freeing herself from Kakashi's stranglehold, pounded Naruto. "Ow!"

"Naruto, shut up. I'm willing to let him try, so don't you threaten him! You'll have your own training to look after, you know," Sakura bellowed.

"Okay, okay, sheesh, blame me for caring," Naruto complained, rubbing his bruise.

"No, I blame you for overdoing it as always. Thanks for the thought, though," Sakura chirped.

"So, sensei, how do we start? What do you need from me?"

"Well, let's start by listing the techniques you know and what you see as your assets and deficiencies..."

They started planning as the two of them wandered off, Naruto looking after them sourly.

Sasuke glared from inside Kakashi's grip, as Kakashi used his other arm to regain his grip on Naruto's collar. "Hey!"

"Maa, maa, Naruto-kun, Sakura was completely correct. You too need training for the finals, and since I'll have to focus on Sasuke – sharingan to sharingan, you see – I have found someone else to take care of that for you. Besides, don't you remember Orochimaru knocked you out with some kind of seal? The man I found and deeply admire is not only a famous author, but also a seal expert and has been the teacher of my own former sensei," Kakashi raved happily.

"_Wow, I hadn't expected him to admit all that." _

Why not? Sasuke queried, still wrestling for freedom.

"_Normally, Kakashi is a very private person, as you should have noticed already, and he very rarely talks about his own past. It hurts him too much, especially the period when he still had his teacher and team."_

"Oh, he's some really old geezer then, huh?" Naruto, of course, showed his tendency to show disrespect to anyone who had not yet earned it in _his_ eyes.

He was roughly interrupted with a hard blow that removed him from kakashi's grasp and made him embrace a thorny brush against his will.

"Don't be so cheeky, brat! When you get a personal visit by the great Jiraiya-sama you better learn to value it!" the stranger bellowed, secretly grinning.

The large, outrageously clad figure with wild, white hair posed dramatically, before pulling Naruto out of the bush by his belt and throwing him over his shoulder, swearing like a trooper.

WHAT? _That_ is Jiraiya of the Sannin Sakura talked about? Oh great, they are all completely mad...

"_Let me guess, if you hadn't just met the man you would be incredibly jealous if you heard he would teach Naruto, am I right?"_

Sasuke thought about that a moment.

"Oh well, Kakashi, I'll take the brat off your hands for now then. Good luck with your own pupil. You get your autographs if the _gaki_ actually learns something worthwile. Bye." The toad sennin just rattled off the farewell and vanished in a burst of leaves, Naruto's complaints leaving a short echo behind.

Sasuke blinked. Okay, if I hadn't seen that, I would have.

"_There's a rumor going around among shinobi: with great power comes great... eccentricity. Most powerful ninja have their unique... idiosyncrasies and quirks. Take Kakashi himself, Orochimaru, Itachi – no matter what, he has snapped hard – Anko... or think of Gai."_ No thanks. _"Heh."_

"Soo, Sasuke-kun, now that we have passed Naruto and Sakura along we can take care of your own training. I think I know a certain technique I can teach you to manage Gaara..."

oOo

Swiftly leading the way to the training site he had picked out Kakashi began while on the move.

"So, Sasuke, you'll meet Gaara. What have you learned from seeing him fight?"

"Hrm... he is powerful, but there was something off about the whole fight. I heard how Gaara killed a whole group of Rain ninja in the forest," he fibbed a bit, he had heard it from the voice, but who cared? "But he at first didn't really look like he wanted to seriously fight Dosu. Bah, that's not what I actually wanted to say.

"He controls sand, literally. It floats freely and solidifies to work as an instant defense, and he can make it attack with deadly force, but his offense seems to be a bit slower than the defense. Against most physical and elemental attacks he probably is practically immune, but as Dosu had showed, indirect attacks can get through. He was effectively immobile, so he seems to rely on his sand technique so much his taijutsu is inexistent and he probably doesn't have many other other jutsu either. I remember he can use the tree-climbing technique, though. He also seems a bit... excitable."

"Good enough for now, nice analysis. How would you expect to beat him?"

Heh, the voice had suggested a few points he hadn't thought about at first.

"Two ways, weaken his offense and penetrate his defense, of course. Weakening his offense would probably work with an elemental technique like water, which would turn sand into mud. Since Suna is associated with the Air element, his techniques probably follow the typical theme, so his control is wind- rather than earth-based. So, mud would fall out of his control. This has the advantage of simultaneously hindering his defense, too.

"The other way would be a technique capable of simply breaching his defense, as the Sound's attack has done. My fire techniques probably still are too weak for that, though," he admitted. " A high-powered technique, though, might be hot enough to melt sand. Other effects might do it better, of course."

Kakashi mostly agreed with Sasuke's analysis, even if he had not expected some of his conclusions. Finally arriving at the area he had selected, he stopped on the desolate, rocky hilltop.

"Very well, Sasuke. We have four weeks to train you, so we have to be picky. I guess the time would be enough for several low-level techniques, but I doubt these would be able to make the difference. Your favored element as an Uchiha is fire, so teaching you water techniques would be difficult and less effective for you. So I would like to teach you a technique you, with your sharingan, would be perfect for. (I also have to admit to a little bit of vanity.) It was the first fully original technique I developed myself, an A-ranked lightning assassination technique. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"The _Chidori_," Sasuke confirmed.

"Yes. Lightning is strong against earth, so it should be able to break through Gaara's defenses, especially as the wind element you mentioned seems to be only involved in moving the sand, and won't be an issue. I'll teach you the basic technique, which _per se_ will only require a single demonstration using your sharingan, but much more importantly, you'll need to develop your reserves and the physical ability to effectively use it. That includes increasing your speed to high levels, so you hopefully can contend with Gaara's sand in that area too. Are we clear so far?"

"_Gee, persuasive and enthusiastic, isn't he?"_ the voice deadpanned. _"Oh well, I knew the chidori would be the thing he wants to teach you, and I'm not certain I have better ideas. It is a powerful and dangerous technique, yes. It kills with one good hit and can't easily be pulled, so __**don't**__ use it in fights where your life isn't on the line! Unfortunately, facing Gaara obviously qualifies."_

Well, let's see what Kakashi has planned for actual training. If he is lazy again about that, with your help I'll know in time and can call him out on that.

"_Yep. Okay, get crackling."_

oOo

As planned, Kakashi demonstrated the _Chidori_, Sasuke copied it with his two-_tomoe_ sharingan and demonstrated his success. Or rather, he tried to – he almost managed to charge the technique, but did not yet fully succeed in aspecting the chakra, and then he faltered due to chakra exhaustion before he could actually use it. While he recovered, Kakashi explained the chidori's strengths and limitations as well as the proper way to use it. The next hours were filled with a few demonstrations, preparatory training for increasing agility and speed, general practice in creating and channelling lightning chakra, advanced chakra-building and -controlling exercises and further explanations.

After a few questions regarding the training methods, the voice came up with the idea of combining several of the less focused techniques into combination exercises and helped Sasuke to persuade Kakashi, who had intended to focus on single exercises (probably so he had more time to just supervise) to try that method.

They spent the rest of the allocated time with working on the combination exercises and fine-tuning the mixes. Chakra control with taijutsu training, combining chakra building with further chakra control, combined taijutsu sparring and speed training and so on.

In the end they managed to develop a schedule that combined more than double the practices Kakashi had planned into the same number of hours without (probably) unduly taxing Sasuke beyond his endurance. Taijutsu practice while clinging to the walls, building chakra while standing on hands, high-speed taijutsu training on the move and so on. The epitome of intense training, at least for Kakashi's habits.

Kakashi grumbled a bit on the necessity to participate more than he has planned, but to Sasuke's and the voice's satisfaction (and secret amusement) had been successfully pressed to comply.

Finally, tired but content with their starting progress, they called it a day and returned to the village for the night.

oOo

"_Feeling better?"_ the voice inquired.

Sasuke, walking tiredly towards Konoha proper, thought about it.

Depends. It was easy to lose myself in training, but I – I _doubt_ myself.

"_That can be a good thing. Resolving doubt is a good step to take."_

I doubt, but I'm no way near resolving it.

"_I see. In a way, I'm sorry. But it was necessary."_

That's what you say. You say Itachi was innocent, basically, but I still remember that night, and I still remember how I felt until the other day.

He told me I'd need his eyes, to awaken the _mangekyo sharingan_, if I ever wanted to beat him...

"_He was only speaking half the truth. The mangeyko sharingan is a trap."_

But it is the greatest power the sharingan can grant!

"_One, no, it isn't. Two, the easiest way to acquire it also usually is the most reprehensible act a human being can commit. Three, the drawbacks are at least in line with the power it grants, if not worse."_

Drawbacks? There are other ways to gain it? There is a greater power? Don't tease me, explain!

"_Just making sure you're going to listen. The drawbacks of the mangekyo are serious, especially for someone used to having a doujutsu. You have only a limited time to 'enjoy' the powers it grants you, because you slowly go blind. The more you use the powers the faster this progresses, but it doesn't stop whatever you do, and it is irreversible. And to master the powers, you have to practice... Also, everyone who gains the mangekyo acquires different major powers, which may bring their own specific disadvantages. In my opinion, killing your closest friend for that isn't worth it."_

*Shudder* Going blind? I think I agree... But there's something greater?

"_Yeah,"_ the voice hesitated. _"And its price is even greater, in a way, too. If you have gained the mangekyo sharingan, and a close blood relative has too, you can take __**his**__ eyes to gain the so-called 'Eternal' mangekyo sharingan. This procedure restores your eyesight and there is no more deterioration. I'm not certain about the specifics, whether you somehow meld them or just transplant them. Actually, if you could just exchange them, the price would be no price, so I severely doubt it would be that easy. On the other hand, if each could be satisfied with a single working eye..."_

Heh, sounds like what you continually try to teach me, taking the 'better' choice. Now, if what you said before is true and there is another way to awaken the mangekyo...

"_You need to feel true guilt, shame and regret at least equal to actually performing the deed, so faking friendship doesn't work. Genjutsu is not enough either as far as I know, but there may be other options. I don't know which hormonal and neurochemical triggers are needed or whether there is an extra trigger involved, but there may be a chance to trigger it artificially."_

Hrn. Complicated.

"_Not to mention again that to kill your best friend just to gain the mangekyo sharingan is pretty much the definition of evil and thus a pretty disgusting idea. I think the powers of the regular sharingan are impressive enough. Overwhelming power can be acquired in other, less antisocial ways."_

Tell me, then.

"_Once the opportunity presents itself I'll remind you. For starters, though, you could look for a chance to sign a summoning contract."_

Hrn. Snake, dog, toad and slug are the only ones I can think of, and none of these seem like they could be of much use to me.

"_Don't underestimate the seemingly useless or ugly summons. They often have very useful secrets and abilities. On the other hand, there are many more possibilities for animal summons alone, not to mention unique summons of all types. The Hokage, for instance, holds a personal monkey summon, and King Enma is very impressive."_

What would you recommend then?

"_For some reason I feel quite partial to ravens, especially since your brother seems to have an affinity to crows. If you want to oppose Orochimaru, how about finding out if a mongoose contract exists? Otherwise you might have to research a bit."_

Hmmm... Mongoose versus snake... The idea has something...

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura's voice broke his pondering. He looked up and found himself passing by Ichiraku's, where his tired teammates were enjoying a few bowls of ramen. Okay, apparently Sakura was on her second, while Naruto had emptied at least eight bowls already. No surprise there, the only surprise was Naruto waving too.

oOo

Ichiraku's, at least, seemed unchanged in spite of the turmoil still bubbling deep in Sasuke's heart. It was calming, even if it was just a ramen stand.

"So you're training the farthest away from us three, that explains why you're so late. I almost thought Kakashi's lateness was contagious," Sakura joked.

"Heh, at least I managed to wrangle a reasonable training schedule out of him," Sasuke boasted a bit, also partaking in a bowl of 'Naruto bait'.

"Heh, for Kakashi, that's actually impressive. Ebisu on the other hand is his complete opposite, very systematic. I'm going to practice one week on genjutsu, the next on medical jutsu, then we check for which I show the greater aptitude. Otherwise, still improving chakra control – apparently medical jutsu requires even better control than my so-called 'perfect' control, building up my stores *moan*, general taijutsu, tactics, stealth, more weapons training, especially with senbon and wires... systematic, competent, but a slave driver. I feel like back in the academy sometimes. Bleh. Still, Naruto seems to have had bad luck with his teacher. He apparently just had fixed whatever Orochimaru did to him and otherwise chakra control, chakra control, chakra control..." Sakura happily blathered on, fortunately no longer about irrelevant fangirlish stuff.

"Maan, I can't help it. This old pervert is sooo booring. Water walking, tree walking, more water walking... unless I get that right I get nothing else," Naruto complained, dropping his head on the counter and making the Ichirakus laugh.

"Oh? I admit that was not what I expected. After what Sakura could tell about your teacher earlier I expected you to be working on, how do you always say, 'one cool jutsu after the other'," Sasuke said, slightly confused.

"Huh? When did I say anything about his new sensei before, Naruto started only today," Sakura asked, surprised by Sasuke's claim. "He hasn't even told me his real name, he just calls him 'old pervert' or 'Ero-sennin' because he supposedly always tries to peep in the women's baths while he makes Naruto practice water walking."

Sasuke gri- smirked, remembering what the voice had said. "Well, you said he had left Konoha long ago, but Kakashi seems to know him personally. Apparently he has trained the man who trained him. He came after you had left with Ebisu, so you just missed him snatching up 'the brat', as he called the slacker, throwing him over the shoulder and making off with him," Sasuke told, fully aware what important information he had left out.

"Not my fault, the old guy is sooo annoying," Naruto sighed. "He just tells me my chakra control is all screwed up,"

"We could have told you that," Sakura added.

"Because he says I have too much chakra, so he made me practice the whole day. And nothing else yet."

"Naruutoo, you are becoming annoying again. Turn it down a notch," Sakura admonished, surprisingly without emphasizing her complaint with a slap or punch.

"All right, all right, it's just that I can barely think about anything else," the blond mumbled.

"Okay, what happened while I was out? Someone replaced you with clones? This morning you also were not as I was used to from you," Sasuke inquired. They were both civil to each other and keeping it up, mostly.

"Oh. Right, we never had the opportunity to tell you. Well, yesterday, during the intermission while you were away with Kakashi, I... just had a similar talk with Naruto as you had with me before. I recognized that Naruto just didn't know any better and – well, in short, I decided we needed to make a new start and we just – reintroduced ourselves and promised to try to be a bit more mature," Sakura explained, while Naruto nodded.

"Should we do that too? Hi Sasuke, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, your teammate," he started, once again surprising Sasuke with a shade of actual solemnity.

Sakura nodded and fell in. "And I am Haruno Sakura, your other teammate," she grinned and hold out her hand. "I still like you and want to date you," she continued, interrupted by Naruto's "I don't,", "but I promise to try to be no longer a pest about it." "Yeah, I promise to try, too," Naruto added.

"Still, we are teammates and will be together for quite a while, so would you like to be friends?" both asked, not in chorus, but added together that seemed to be the essence.

Sasuke was amazed. Then he got it. Again. Especially since the voice sent a few pointers his way.

"Ooh. Heh. Okay," he actually laughed, not his more familiar dark or mean laugh, but honestly pleased.

"Very well," he set on. "Hello you two. I am Uchiha Sasuke and your – other, other teammate (no way I'm saying 'third' or 'last'). I don't want to date _**anyone**_ yet – especially not you, Naruto," "Pfff." "Heh. But right, we are teammates and yes, I agree we could at least try to be friends. And I promise to try to be less of a...," he fumbled there a bit.

"_Arrogant asshole?"_

"Bastard?"

"Hey! Okay, I try to be less of a... jerk, how about that?" He also reached out and offered his hands, and with a short, shared laughter the others took them.

Ayame and old Teuchi looked on smiling and almost moved to tears, respectively.

"Not bad... not bad at all," mused Sasuke as he basked a while in the feeling.

"Yeah... but okay, Sasuke, come on, spill it," Sakura demanded finally. "When and where am I suppoesed have spoken about Naruto's new sensei, if I don't even know his name? And I'm not sure I even _want_ to know the name of some dirty old man."

Sasuke blinked, then smirked. "Wellll," he drawled playfully, "Let me repeat. Kakashi seems to be familiar with him, he claimed this man was his sensei's teacher and that he is a seal expert. He apparently is some kind of author since he promised Kakashi in leaving some autographs. He was large, overly dramatic, wore _geta_ and a huge scroll on his back, and had long, wild white hair and red lines, like tear marks, under his eyes. I'd estimate his looks in the fourties, but the facts hint at an actual age of at least fifty. Oh, and his headband bears a _kanji_, it was 'oil', I think. Now, can you put the pieces together and guess his name?"

It was fun seeing Sakura frustrated and exasperated as she tried to solve the puzzle. "An author and a pervert, heh, that fits with that smut Kakashi's always reading, but I don't know who wrote this 'Icha Icha' stuff," she thought aloud.

Old man Teuchi opened his mouth, but was immediately silenced by his angry daughter Ayame and a 'don't interfere' look of Sasuke.

"I don't know who sensei's sensei was, unfortunately, so that's not much help either. All I can say is that you imply he must be in some way famous, and his age puts him at first full duty during the second shinobi... world... war... and you had me tell you about- oh hell...," she trailed of, eyes widening, as she came to the only possible correct conclusion.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT DIRTY OLD MAN NARUTO WAS TALKING ABOUT IS JIRAIYA OF THE SANNIN?" she screeched, pointing at Sasuke and Naruto in shock.

Teuchi grinned, Ayame pouted, Naruto nodded sadly and Sasuke gave her a shrug and a nod. "That was the name used," he just said. Sakura cried.

oOo

"There, there, Sakura-chan," Naruto tried to comfort the distraught Sakura who had her forehead plastered to the Ichiraku's counter. "It surely isn't that bad," he softly patted her shoulder.

"We are doomed," Sakura moaned. "I can see it already. Naruto gets taught by one of the sannin who is an open perv and Kakashi is his grand-pupil.. The other is a creep with a snake fetish and the third – History will repeat itself. We are doomed. Naruto will become a perv like his teacher too, I'll have to pound him again and again and Sasuke won't like me and I'll drive him away and then I'll have to run away too and end up alone and regretting everything and I'll probably start drinking..."

"_Whoa! That's... surprisingly insightful, but what brought that on?"_

Let me guess, if you hadn't made me see what a creep he is I would have gone to Orochimaru, right? And now Jiraiya teaches Naruto... I guess Sakura should learn from Tsunade then, huh? Just kidding.

"_... you better help Naruto calm her."_ The voice wasn't amused.

Irritated, Sasuke did his best. "Sakura? Sakura. Calm down. Just breathe and calm down... What made you say that anyway?"

"Sakura-chan, please, calm down," Naruto pleaded with her, "I promise I won't become a pervert like Ero-sennin, and you won't have to pound me, and Sasuke won't run away. Sakura-chan, please."

Ayame came around the counter and held Sakura, concerned, while her father looked troubled.

Minutes later Sakura finally stopped trembling. "Haah – ahh – hhahh – Sorry, guys, I don't know what came over me. I just suddenly had this feeling... I could almost see it... Sasuke looking at me coldly and just going away... I just cried, and then Naruto went away too... and then I was all alone... for some reason I was so terribly afraid..."

Sasuke looked around sharply and focused all of his senses. Nothing. "Someone could have sent you a genjutsu, but if so he or she is already gone or too skilled to sense."

"Why should anyone do that? And who?" Naruto was also looking around hectically.

"N-no, at least it wasn't like Kakashi's on our first day," Sakura twitched still, but was calm enough again to think. "It was more like a daydream, or a bad memory flashback."

"_Now __**that**__ sounds suspicious..."_ the voice quietly hissed.

You don't think... someone like _you_ has found _her_?

No answer.

"Maybe it's just too much training for the first day back," Sasuke suggested. "Or some delayed reaction. In any case I...," he hesitated, then he firmed up.

Okay, you moralizing, wiseguy voice. I guess I'll take what you said serious for now. Time to truly act on it. I expect you to help me stand by this.

"_I see. I will."_

"Naruto, if you take this as a joke I'll hurt you." Naruto nodded wide-eyed.

"Sakura, I promise I won't just go away unless it is for a reason you two can understand and at least partially agree with. Far enough that you two would be willing to come with me."

To Sasuke the thought alone had been so alien just s few short days ago, it still felt strange to hold on to it, but something inside of him felt... satisfied. "We just decided to start again, to try to be – friends – I don't want to give up before I even try," he whispered.

oOo

oOo

AN: Whoah, I think I went a bit overboard with the revelations. That's probably why I took the little copout of making Sasuke _and_ the voice forget, or rather bury, the Big Reveal for a while. Kinda hard to have wacky fun while the future years are coming down on you like a brick factory... ^^

Okay, on wacky fun this chapter starts out rather light, too. Instead I just _had_ to include loads and loads of jutsubabble (I claim that as the ninja term for technobabble) and character interaction.

Oh well, I just hope it wasn't too boring. (27. Aug. 2013 - Minor edits and a few added bits of canon revelations during the last two years... sooorry for the long time-out, I hope I get my stuff together again)

And Sasuke's _**Log**_ will continue...

oOo

Next: Raven Chatter Part Six: Four Weeks of Fun, Part Two

The Raven is a cautious and perceptive bird. While powerful enough to need not fear most other birds in his area, he never takes that fact for granted.

"_Look out, gossip queen at 12 o'clock,"_ the voice alerted him to the blonde pony tail crossing his path, but too late.

oOo


	6. Part 6 Four Weeks of Fun Part 2

AN:

Repetetive declaration: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, _italicized_ segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.

And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.

On that matter, a few more small apo_**log**_ies to Third Fang and this time also to Durandall (K:BDH™), even if they most probably don't even know about this fic.

If you catch it, you know why ^^

This chapter originally was part of chapter 5, but when I broke the 30 page point I decided to keep the length more in line with the other chapters and split it. Which also may mean the training month will take more chapters in general. We'll see what else I will stuff in there.

oOo

During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.

But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to _undermine_ the sannin's influence? And **knows** things?

And now the changes are piling up... will things become better or worse in the long run?

oOo

Raven Chatter

The Raven is a cautious and perceptive bird. While powerful enough to need not fear most other birds in his area, he never takes that fact for granted.

Part Six: Four Weeks of Fun, Part Two

oOo

It was happening so fast, too fast. Just a few days ago almost every waking thought of his had been revenge upon _'that man'_, gaining the strength to _kill _Itachi, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. Now, his conviction, his resolve, his _drive_ had been eroded and was practically gone. He felt empty, and being 'calmed' by his inner voice, be it parasite, symbiont, companion or even "master" didn't help, of course. He supposed being on certain drugs might feel in a similar way, except the voice wouldn't actually curtail the efficiency of his facilities.

But this day he had focused on training for its own sake. He hadn't even really felt the drive to prove himself or to win against Gaara in the finals. He had acted near 'normal', smart, cold and logical – in his own way – and with the voice's help had wrangled an actually promising course of intense training out of his lazy so-called teacher, but it had been literal _acting_, deep inside it had been mostly just a way to occupy his thoughts and delay thinking seriously about it all.

In some weird way he felt _free_. Aimless but free. And what pinky and the blond had just offered – now that his obsession was mostly gone, it felt like a good way to fill the emptiness. He remembered his hateful brooding through all these years, pushing anyone away because of – yes, the voice had been right – because of his selfishness. _He_ had been the one hurt, _he_ the one who would avenge.

Nobody else would understand _him_, so why start dealing with any of these _kids_ with their petty little problems, none of which would have any significance to _him_. He had been raised to stand above his peers, so he had never had actual friends as he had seen at the academy and before – oh yes, he had watched, from the corner of his eyes and at the farthest limit of his hearing. Inside he had smirked at their unimportant little problems and squabbles, but far deeper inside he _had_ felt alone, and not in a good, proud way.

Oh, now he remembered seeing Naruto, and now he understood better. Naruto had pushed himself on everyone else, where he himself had pushed everyone away. And Naruto had gained at least a few half-hearted friends where Sasuke himself had... fangirls.

Who didn't know him and mostly didn't even _desire_ to really know him. Sakura had actually proved that, that last day after the academy. But she had changed now.

So now, the blunt, explicit offer to be friends, nothing there to misunderstand about it - the only way to avoid it was to belittle the offering, and he wanted to do such a thing no longer. And the only other option would be to just as explicitly reject it, but he didn't want that either.

So he decided to take the offer and try it for a while.

Whatever the forest and later events had done to them, the mood between them had changed. Even Naruto had had his serious moments.

Until and unless he found something else to fuel dedication, he would try just _having friends_.

oOo

Sakura had a short relapse, hugging Sasuke while crying, but had calmed down enough to spare the Uchiha from regretting his words and actions. They all had talked a bit more about training and other neutral themes, and they had resolved to try to meet at least every three days to compare notes, since they wouldn't meet all together in the mornings with Kakashi for the next few weeks.

Sakura also had threatened Naruto with a 'serious' makeover and made him promise to listen and actually think about her ideas. She also thought about his food habits and offered to bring him some 'healthy and diverse' food tomorrrow and asked him for his address, which she realized she didn't actually know.

Naruto hemmed and hawed, but finally still couldn't resist Sakura and agreed.

The Ichiraku's, meanwhile, had been a pair of symphathetic onlookers and had as a matter of course promised to keep all possibly confidential matters secret. Fortunately, in this case, the only other potential customers had been driven away by Naruto, either through recognition (which Sakura and Sasuke still couldn't really understand) or by his general (loud and orange) obnoxiousness. The Ichiraku's hadn't cared much.

The evening had become later than any of them had planned, but they all, even Sasuke, seemed somewhat happy about it.

Finally, they separated and went to their respective homes.

oOo

The next day, Sasuke took the detour to Naruto's address just to get a look at his hopefully in the near future less annoying teammates.

He managed to escape Sakura's awareness, who actually had made true on her promise and arrived with a few bags of freshly bought food, but almost faltered at the badly run-down apartment block.

As she made her way in Sasuke went off to his training area.

"_Look out, gossip queen at 12 o'clock,"_ the voice alerted him to the blonde pony tail crossing his path, but too late.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino squeaked her welcome and tried to latch onto him. He evaded her with a little effort.

"_On the other hand, she's an opportunity. Try to ask her for information, if you dare,"_ the voice recommended with a mental smirk.

"Stop that, girl, I'm not interested," Sasuke still had to state to rebuke her at least a bit. "If you want to do something for me, though, there might be something," he hesitantly admitted (through his teeth).

"Anything, Sasuke-kun! What do you want?" Ino bubbled. Yech!

"Information," the boy firmly said. "You always say you know anything that happens in Konoha, right?"

A bit confused, but still proud of having something to offer Sasuke was interested in she confirmed that. "Yes, mostly. Actual classified secrets are out, of course, but whom do you want to know about?"

"Primarily Gaara of Suna, of course." Ino gulped at the thought. "Can you tell me - or find out - if he's still in hospital or anything, and about his actual injuries? His siblings might be good to know about, too, even if they won't fight. Then, anything useful about the Hyuuga. Both of them. Finally, of course anything about the others who will be at the finals."

At that, Ino tried to burst out with a waterfall of words, but Sasuke quickly throttled the flow.

"Sorry, Ino, I mean _useful_ information, and if possible, ordered. And not now, I've got to go training. Unless you have something really quick, could you write up something for me?"

Ino was disappointed by the rebuke but rallied fast.

"Sasuke, if you want it that way, I want something too. I want to tell you personally, not write a stupid report. How about a cozy dinner or something?"

"_She got you there. If you want to use her... talents, you have to offer something in return."_

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.** I know, dammit.**

"... Very well. As long as you can keep it professional. The moment you start to wildly gossip I'm gone, understand?" he forced out.

"Aww, Sasuke-kun, but some pieces of gossip can be sooo revealing. I mean, about dear little Hinata, our shy wallflower who couldn't harm a fly but who totally out of left field just _owned_ the Suna puppet freak? Don't you want to know what set her off?"

When Ino had started gushing Sasuke tried to step around her and walk on, but _that_ prompted him to stop. He might regret it, but... "What?"

"Dear little Hinata- ," Ino stopped, checked their surroundings and pulled him over to a small niche. "I guess you also didn't know she has an incredible, long-running crush on your loud teammate?"

Sasuke boggled. "She- and... Sakura? But they're both girls...?"

Now it was Ino's turn, and she made a short and violent contact with the ground, causing her nose to bleed slightly. When she came up again, her face twitched, shifting between shocked anger, suppressed howling laughter, embarrassment and maybe disgust.

"No, no, your _other_ loud teammate," she burst out.

It took a few seconds to parse the information.

"She. Hyuuga Hinata. Has a crush on. Naruto. Seriously?" He checked, emphasizing each part of that information separately. Ino nodded, her ponytail swinging in wild curves.

"Apparently for years, but she is too shy to ever do something about it and Naruto seems typically oblivious. But just before the match Forehea- Sakura, who obviously knows too, egged her on and she apparently just snapped because she told her this Kankuro had threatened to hurt him or something like it."

"So _that's_ what that was about. And that's why she _annihilated_ that boy."

"Yep," Ino giggled a bit, making Sasuke's skin crawl. Luckily she seemed to have forgotten whatever had happened to _her_ in the preliminary fight with him.

"I find that hard to believe, but I guess the result points that way. I see what you mean. Okay, if it's _that_ relevant, I might be able to stand a bit of gossip, but only if it's unavoidable. Otherwise, no deal."

"Anything for you, Sasuke-kuun," she crooned. "How about tonight at seven at the Akamichi barbecue over there? Choji won't be eating there until tomorrow – he has actually a schedule – and I'm certain I'll have something already by then."

"*Sigh* okay, but half past seven is more probable. Until then."

"Then it's a date-"

"NO." Sasuke put his foot down immediately.

"But Sasuke-kuuun...," Ino whined.

"NO. If you want to call it a date the deal is off. And if I ever hear you did call it that I'll break your arm. I mean it." He demonstratively unhooked her arm from his, where it mysteriously had become lodged.

Ino pouted helplessly. Then she faintly agreed.

"_Hardass pansy,"_ the voice teased.

Shut. Up.

Sasuke hurried on, feeling vaguely dirty and _throwing_ himself into training.

oOo

"So, anything new about these losers?" Sasuke asked, hanging from a rocky spike while building up and holding a charge of chakra lightning.

"Hm? Which losers?" Kakashi asked absently.

"The Sand trio and what's left from the Sound. One of each is still going to be in the finals, and this Gaara is mine... as you well know, 'sensei'." Sasuke clarified with some bite in his voice. "Not to forget a few possibilities..."

"Ah, yes," the one-eyed ninja nodded and shaded his eye from the afternoon sun.

"The Sound genin are still in the hospital I think, but their team leader is harder to track. I hear the whole Sand team has decided to stay another day or two there also, but why I don't know."

"Hrn. You think the snake is among them?"

"Do you really want to talk about that here?"

"I think it's more secure than closer to the village. And after coming face to face with that creep I desire to know what's going on," Sasuke coldly said, shifting the charge to his other hand with a hissing snap.

"Whoa, careful there. But as long as it works, nice idea for control practice. Well, you know everything regarding Orochimaru is technically a village secret, so I officially can't tell you anything about any measures taken to snoop after him and his plans. We try to keep tabs on his possible followers, though."

The voice murmured some hints to him.

"Well, just take care then. Wouldn't do if someone stumbled upon him - or one of his _competent_ errand-boys - unexpectedly and got himself killed before he could update you. Damn, the first few moments in the forest I was _absolutely sure_ we could take him without problems as he hid his chakra and killer intent too well. If he had been serious he could have killed us all without breaking a sweat."

"_Okay, you don't have to be __**that**__ humble if you don't mean it."_

Heh. Going to slide back for a few.

"Do you think _he_ is more powerful than the snake?" Sasuke fixed Kakashi with a black look.

"He? Oh, you mean..." "Yes." "... I don't know. _He_ was not..." "But it's possible." "... Maybe." They shot back and forth.

"Heh. Then I can't go for _him_ unless I know that I can beat the snake. And I know I can't... yet. Damn!" Sasuke exclaimed, leaping down and crashing the lightning chakra into the rock. The crater was only moderately satisfying.

"I hate feeling weak!" He hissed.

Then he proceeded to do his best to beat Kakashi up. To try, at least. Also known as taijutsu training time.

oOo

Walking into town, sufficiently tired, Sasuke let out a deep sigh.

Frustrating.

"_Meh, just keep paying a __**leeetle**__ bit of attention to her and she'll behave. Warn her when she's about to cross the line, but be civil. She was just acting when she had to fight you and you know it, don't you?"_

Hrm. I'm not so sure. If she was _just acting_ she must have known the effect it would have on me, and honestly I doubt her to be that capable of introspection.

"_Oh, and you were? - Maybe she was just playing for the audience."_

And then she wouldn't have expected me to be affected.

"_I think it's the opposite. She expected you to behave as she always has wished you to. That is, not seriously fighting her or you to be willing to hurt her."_

*Sigh*. And you stopped me from doing what I really wanted _why_ exactly?

"_Because it was fu- more socially acceptable."_

You just wanted to say 'fun'.

"_... fun**nier**, to be honest. But go by my correction."_

Oh kami, I've got a wannabe comedian in my head. Dammit, stop playing around with me!

"_But you make it sooo easy... Okay, I'll cut back a bit. But seriously, if you actually had violently knocked her out, you would have paid for the short-term gain in satisfaction with a long-term loss in reputation and trust. As you tended to do before, and much too often, in my opinion."_

Yeah, yeah, I got it. Still don't like it, though.

Especially since I'm actually not really sure of myself again yet.

"S_till on t__hat__? Look, I may have made you see some truths, but on the other hand I expected you to find something else among them to latch on for revenge or stuff, just something more... wholesome."_

Then you botched the job. Completely. At the moment I don't even want to fight in the exams anymore. Not as seriously as before. What's the point anymore? Whatever I _wanted_ to do leads to my own destruction. What I _believed_ my duty to hold up was an empty illusion, a bubble _you_ popped – thoroughly. You made me make peace with the worst annoyances of my life, to make friends.

You deconstructed, no, _destroyed_ everything by which I defined myself. What did you expect?

_("Crap,") _the voice 'thought'._ ("And I thought he did so well. Now he __**really**__ has turned Emo. What am I gonna do now?")_

Oh well, into the lion's den and all that...

Sasuke sighed again, straightened a bit and stepped into the restaurant where Yamanaka Ino would be waiting. She was.

oOo

"So, to summarize, Hyuuga Neji has a grudge against the Hyuuga main family, including his cousin Hinata, who was basically judged worthless as clan heir and is in danger to be discarded for her little sister?" Sasuke asked to confirm.

"Yeah, as stupid as that sounds, but the Hyuuga are a strict clan and highly focused on public appearance, and Hinata seems just to project the wrong image."

Ino explained, taking a small bite from the salad she had ordered – to the almost insulted look of the Akamichi clan member (only a distant relative of Chouji, though) who had processed her order.

"(I guess we Uchiha weren't much different)," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

_Feels familiar, somehow? With whom do you/I identify? Neji? Hinata? Neither? Both?_

"Sasuke-kun? Is something wrong?" Ino asked, somewhat concerned, as the Uchiha apparently began to brood. He flinched and sat up straight.

"Yes, but nothing that belongs here. How about the foreigners?" He asked, changing the topic.

"Um, except for the Tsuchi girl they have disappeared, it seems. This Zaku left yesterday with their jounin sensei, but no one knows where. Zaku also wasn't supposed to leave yet, he should have stayed there for the rest of the week like the girl. Also, she seemed to behave strangely, as the nurse I asked told me – a regular customer at my family's shop. Somewhat depressed, she said."

"Hrm."

"Also, there was some kind of alert there last night, but I couldn't get details yet."

"Hrn."

"Next, the whole Sand team seems to have taken residence in the hospital until they all are healed, it seems. The staff is rather... upset about it, but the Hokage has permitted it personally. It's mostly the girl, Temari, who has to stay a few days more. The others are supposed to be on their feet again. Apparently Hinata wasn't too hard on the puppeteer, she apparently only blocked his _tenketsu_ without blowing his innards up with the _juuken_... much." The last part she actually read from some notes she had taken. "I never actually knew what the Hyuuga _could_ do with their abilities, but Nao- the nurse I spoke to had apparently some experience with their style and told me a bit about it. Brrr. I can't imagine Hinata – but that's the whole clan heir wrong image problem, it seems."

Sasuke dismissed the topic. "Quite enough on that, I see already. Okay, anything else? Anything helpful? Have you more on the Hyuuga abilities there?" he asked, pointing out her notes.

"Yes, yes, I took notes _just for you_ on all I've been told, here," she passed her note scroll over to him, trying to touch his hand on the switch and disappointed when he just quickly took it, almost just with his fingertips, denying her the implied hand holding. She sighed.

Sasuke took a quick look at the scroll – Good, no hidden love letter – and put it away, minimally nodding in thanks.

"Very well. Should you hear anything about where the Sound team shows up or where the Kin girl goes when she is released let me know, the same about the Sand team. Anything else I might have a _real_ use for?" he coldly asked.

Ino swallowed a bit at the tone. "I-I guess not," she squeaked, forgoing the intent to try loosening up the boy with a bit of smalltalk. "J-just..."

Sasuke looked at her darkly. "What?"

The blonde girl locked eyes with him, even if hers began to shimmer wetly.

"W-why are you so cold, Sasuke-kun? I had hoped you would relax a bit by now, but... can't you at least be a _bit_ more comfortable in my presence?" She forced herself to keep her voice under control.

"_C'mon, be at least as honest with her as with Sakura."_ Shut up.

He kept the eye contact for a few more seconds, then broke it by closing his eyes.

Very well. I'll try, but on another track.

"Bluntly – No. Sorry, Ino, but you still represent to me the chattering hordes of mindless fangirls who hounded me the last years at the academy and beyond. I _didn't_ like it, but no one seemed to notice that. You didn't either, did you? And your tactic the other day at the preliminaries didn't help." Oh crap.

I didn't just say that, did I? _"You did."_ Crap.

For a moment, Sasuke fought the urge to look around as he thought he heard a sound like ripping cloth, or breaking glass. Ino seemed stunned, so he used the opportunity to just leave a couple ryou for the food and made his quick getaway, before she could recall whatever had happened to her at the fight's end.

oOo

Sasuke didn't quite _run_ home, but there wasn't much that separated his walking speed from that. Basically only the fact that at any point in time one of his feet was touching the ground, to be technical about it.

"_Hey! She didn't even have time to react!"_ the voice complained.

I don't want to know.

"_But if she-"_

I don't. want. to. know.

"_Sheesh..."_

oOo

Sasuke managed to spend the next days without running into undesired contacts. He _did_ spend a lot of time thinking, though – by himself and in discussion with his still nameless inner voice which, well, turned more often intense, bordering on hostile – whenever he had his head free enough.

Still... there were the (tentatively) regular after-training meetings...

"Okay, Naruto," Sakura firmly said. "You _need_ to do something about this getting ripped off by nearly anyone. If I have to see you a few more times in this outfit... uniform... jumpsuit... _thing_, I'm gonna scream. And having you eat ramen all the time isn't good for you, either. No offense, Teuchi-san, but Ebisu-sensei has given me a few medical books to prepare for training, and some consequences of unbalanced nourishment were quite... frightening."

"None taken, Haruno-san. While it often looks as if Naruto here alone would keep us in business, I _do_ worry for the boy sometimes. That's why I sometimes offer a few mixes as the daily special, you know," he grinned and pointed his thumb at the blackboard declaring 'Today's Special – Health Ramen with Vegetables and Fruit Sidedish Two-for-One Deal'.

"Teuchi-jisan! Not you, too!" Naruto complained with a slightly overacted whine.

"Oh, you didn't like our daily specials?" Teuchi still smiled, but a dark glow seemed to emanate from his - and Ayame's - shaded eyes. Even as he hid his reaction, Sasuke shuddered, too.

"... scary...," Naruto whimpered, shrinking into his clothes and cowering behind the counter. "No, Ichiraku ramen is always the best," he desperately claimed from inside his collar.

Instantly, the pressure lifted. "There you have it. Whatever we offer, only the best for our favorite customer," Ayane, smiling happily again, stated.

"Erhem, returning to topic – I give you _two_ choices, Naruto – either _I_ take your sizes - with someone to help keep you still, probably - do the shopping _for_ you and give you a complete makeover without you getting a say in it," Naruto's eyes widened at the last part, imagining himself in a black t-shirt, bandages and white cargo shorts, "or we go shopping _together_ and you can give at least _some_ input."

"But Sakura-chan," Naruto tried to fight the idea, trying to avoid exposing Sakura to _his_ problems.

"No buts," she refused firmly.

After quite a few moderately amusing (to Sasuke) but futile tries to discourage Sakura, Naruto faltered and turned to the last-ditch approach – the truth (or close to it). With lowered face and earnest if sad voice, he admitted his fear: "If you come with me, they'll just treat you as they treat me. And I don't want that."

His teammates were astonished, again. Why the hell... and he did just _take_ that?

Sasuke came up with a frighteningly simple solution. "Henge."

"Whu-?"

"We all can do the basic henge without problems, don't we? Just change your looks so no one recognizes you and *poof* no problem."

"But purchases under henge are illegal-" Sakura started to warn, citing a basic public law, only to be contradicted by Sasuke: "Only for buying forbidden or restricted items, like alcohol as a kid, poisons or some weapons as a civilian, or when someone from a hostile hidden village or a criminal tries to infiltrate in disguise. Neither of this applies here." He nodded firmly.

"Also: **_'Ninja!'_**" He pointed at each of them, making them chuckle. They all were surprised they never even thought about that solution.

"And finally, if even that won't help," he thumbed at himself, "'Uchiha'. In the improbable case someone notices the henge – we'll frequent civilian merchants mostly, right? - it's time I use this tendency of people trying to force on me unwanted favors for my clan name for something _useful_ for once, if necessary."

Sasuke really _had_ changed a lot in these few days, making a light-hearted joke and poking fun at his own family. Even Naruto didn't try to mock him to top him, this time, but the almost-teary (thankful?) look he sent Sasuke creeped the Uchiha boy out a bit. He still didn't know the _why_, but the more he thought about it, the more he didn't like how Naruto was treated by so many people.

The voice – damn, he really should come up with a name for it, but on the other hand, since there was no need to address multiple 'voices', the 'hey you' approach still worked – still kept surprisingly quiet about Naruto's secret, but obviously knew enough.

Speaking of Naruto –

"Still, I obviously mean a _normal_ henge, not your 'forbidden' technique," Sasuke lightly poked fun at Naruto with a wink and making Sakura blush as she remembered Naruto's 'forbidden' technique '_Oroike no Jutsu_'.

"Weeell," Naruto poked back, grinning, "at least in _that_ anyone still standing _couldn't_ deny I'd need new clothes."

At that, after fighting down the urge to _sternly chastise™_ Naruto, even Sakura had to laugh.

oOo

The 'henge'd shopping trip' went mostly well, even if there were a few complications. Since Team Seven's roster was a matter of relatively public knowledge – meaning one didn't even need to consult the official listings _(_which were not public anyway_)_, just a few questions to the current rookies would be enough – they decided to _all_ go under henge, which brought a few other problems with it. They weren't quite practiced enough to freely 'create' an useable appearance from scratch, so they had to seek out a few civilian or academy kids to copy, looking for compatible body shape and size, and seek out shops where the people they looked like wouldn't attract too much attention, meaning they had to put appropriate distance between their 'original's' location and shops they planned to use.

Also, Sakura, after a day of intense training, just had not much chakra left, which made the timing a few times rather critical.

And finally, when they _had_ managed these little problems, they still had to persuade Naruto to part with his long ingrained preferences.

Oh, and Sakura noted Naruto's henge didn't conform enough to his body shape _under_ his baggy overall... jumpsuit... outfit... _thing_, so they had to take a few risks dropping said henge in a fitting backroom.

oOo

"Sakura-chaan, pleease..." Naruto stood there just in undershirt and pants, desperately trying to hide behind a clothes rack, Sakura on the warpath with a measuring tape, while Sasuke stood guard at the door prepared to block and/or distract the shopkeeper if necessary.

"Hush, Naruto, I _still_ need to measure you, now drop the henge too and let me do this," Sakura demanded quietly, cutting off his path and spreading her arms with the tape to check his shoulder breadth and other sizes.

"Umm, the henge _is_ dropped, Sakura-chan..."

Sakura, slapping the cold tape against his back, took note of the numbers first before she allowed herself to notice the unexpected discrepancy.

Oh... my... that's the biceps – triceps – deltoid – pectoralis major – and there are the glut- Whoa, eyes upwards, girl... Maybe a bit scrawny, but surprisingly developed, clear and defined as in the anatomy book... How the heck did he get _that_ buffed on a ramen diet? Wasn't that supposed to be more... fattening?

"_Hell whoa!"_

Shut up, it's Naruto!

"_I don't care. Yum!"_

Sakura started to blush, but pulled quickly away, slapped herself and _ripped_ her mind away from unsavory thoughts _not_ involving Sasuke-kun.

"Kami, I never realized how much your baggy jumpsuit... outfit... suit... _thing_ hides your body shape. With it, you almost look like a smaller Chouji, but under that...," she quickly stopped and changed her tone. "Well, okay, now we have your proper measure. You can henge again, let's look for something better."

"_Hmmm... does Sasuke look that good under his shirt too? Double Yum!"_

Bad thoughts, bad thoughts... Naruto you idiot, making me think stuff like that... No, don't pound him, he doesn't look like he has even noticed...

oOo

While Sakura (and Inner Sakura) wrestled with some early risen hormones, she still managed to control herself enough to avoid a fashion catastrophe.

When they finally were done, Naruto was clothed in a simple dark orange shirt under a bark-brown utility vest, bearing the Konoha symbol in fall-leaf orange big on the back and small on the left front, loose and comfortable pants, wrapped tighter down the calves, in a dark red-brown color with a side stripe, also in fall-leaf orange, and new standard ninja sandal-shoes.

Naruto also had found a hat he liked for some reason – leaf brown with a red-orange tinge and weirdly up-folded side flaps ("It just even _looks_ fast") – which Sakura judged 'not _too_ childish' and agreed it fit the new color scheme. Naruto discovering the fox-ear-like flaps both could be let down in cold weather _and_ hid a small pocket each finalized the decision – read: it became impossible to change his mind.

Still, the new wardrobe allowed free movement and looked by Sakura's judgement several orders of magnitude better. (Sasuke just nodded along and decided to some time soon ditch the cargo shorts for something else.)

A few duplicates including a second pair of sandals (and a _very_ tight version of his shirt Sakura had sneaked into the purchases) and accessories such as a belt with several more small pouches, a new travel pack, new weapon holsters and regular equipment pouches, a thin rain cloak and, of course, some _uzumaki_-spiral patches for customization (which they took a few pains with to avoid someone easily connecting them to Naruto) completed the selection.

They still had managed to do the whole run in a single evening between training and bedtime, and _still_ spent less than a D-rank-mission's total pay, or half what Naruto usually had paid for a single one of his outfit... _things_.

Sakura spent a few minutes admiring her handiwork once Naruto could finally drop the henge for good and she actually could see the whole outfit in its entirety.

"Damn, I'm _good_," she stated in full satisfaction.

"Under other circumstances I'd probably claim caring about fashion would be a foolish waste of time, but in this single case I simply have to agree," Sasuke confirmed, actual amusement robbing his comment of any sting against Sakura.

"Now you just have to get rid of the rest of your old outfit... abomination... _things_."

"I could help with a Great Fireball or two, if you want."

"Naaah," Naruto refused, grinning. "for now I guess I'll just keep them for old time's sake and... _special_ reasons. I have some ideas, actually..."

He thought of old man Hokage, who might have been the one who bought him his first set – while he had to admit Sakura had done a great job, he still wanted to talk to the old man before 'officially' adopting his new dress code.

"Oh, and it might be a bit sudden if I just show up with the new threads, so for now I'll still show up looking as before a while to keep people off my case – but only in henge, Sakura-chan, so don't panic," he grinned.

"Oh Kami, all this work for nothing? Shall I never escape the eyes-torturing _orange_ of these jumpsuit... overall... _things_?" Sakura declaimed pathetically, putting the back of her hand against her forehead and turning away dramatically with a sweeping wave.

"Do not worry, my lady, I shall burn the pain for you as soon as it appears, to spare all of Konoha the suffering," Sasuke, in rare, no, _once-in-a-lifetime_ form bowed to Sakura as a knight vowing to his lord.

"Oh, thank you, my lord, and I'll rely on you keeping your vow and will endure the short times of sufferance until you appear to save us all."

Naruto pouted a bit, but when Sakura just couldn't keep it up anymore, all three of them broke up in boundless laughter.

Finally, they calmed down and went home, Naruto, as he had warned, henge'd into his old looks.

oOo

_("Phew, at least that distracted him for a while. While it's nice to see him just __**enjoy**__ life for a time, I still have to rebuild his confidence and drive... What to do, what to do...")_

oOo

oOo

AN: Hmmm... Is the voice actually making it better – or worse?

While Naruto and crew are admittedly having a bit more fun, Sasuke has lost his obsessive drive. And once the finals start, he _still_ is supposed to face Gaara.

Also Naruto has not yet seen Hinata being blatantly mistreated by family, so he also has not the same drive to _chastise_ Neji.

As it looks now, a little relief and fun may have a horrible price.

Will it stay that way, or can the voice nudge Sasuke into changing things again?

We'll see... ^^ And Sasuke's _**Log**_ will continue... (Minor Edits 27. Aug. 2013)

oOo

Next: Raven Chatter Part Seven: Four Weeks of Fun, Part Three

The Raven is a loyal creature. Those he judges worthy of his attention will have it, whether they need it or not. Unfortunately, that still doesn't tell what _kind_ of attention...

"I mean, if we met, oh I don't know, the _kyuubi no youko_'s kid, we would be pretty apprehensive ourselves, wouldn't we?" Sakura pointed out.

oOo


	7. Part 7 Four Weeks of Fun Part 3

AN:

Repetetive declaration: beyond the usual emphasized words and expressions, _italicized_ segments usually are 'the mysterious voice' (or Inner Sakura) speaking, while (bracketed) segments signify 'active thought', non-vocalized or 'private' speech, sometimes an emotional echo or associative thought.

And of course I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or anyone else native to the series, be it manga or anime.

oOo

During the chuunin exam, in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gives Sasuke the Cursed Seal. So far, so bad and a familiar story.

But when Sasuke wakes, why does he hear a voice that tries to _undermine_ the sannin's influence? And **knows** things?

And now the changes are piling up... will things become better or worse in the long run?

oOo

Raven Chatter

The Raven is a loyal creature. Those he judges worthy of his attention will have it, whether they need it or not. Unfortunately, that still doesn't tell what _kind_ of attention...

Part Seven: Four Weeks of Fun, Part Three

oOo

Another few days passed, completing the first week. Sasuke kept up his new masks, weighted to act close to his old self for Kakashi, faking a motivation he no longer really felt, but still showing off some of his new, 'more open and mature' self. Neither he nor the voice – which he still hadn't felt like naming – were certain how much, or if at all, he fooled the experienced jounin, but since the man showed no undesired interest, they just gave it his best and let it be.

At least, they had managed to persuade him to minimize his tardiness. Actually, they got him to help in designing a few training routines Sasuke could easily perform unsupervised while still getting the necessary improvement, so he had something useful to do while Kakashi was still absent. So you could rather say, they got him to minimize the _consequences_ of his habitual laziness.

Amazingly they had actually had a civil conversation about that. And about Kakashi's lack of teaching ability regarding academy-fresh genin. As they had not slung accusations or demands around, but kept it to facts and methods, it really appeared to have some results. He had actually promised to take more care of the other two once this business with the chuunin exam had run its course.

Yesterday they had even gotten him to talk about his past, just a little, but he had told him fragmentarily of the teammate he literally inherited his sharingan eye from. Obito Uchiha, he had gotten the name. And he actually acknowledged the way the memory of the dead friend haunted Kakashi still.

In the evening, Sasuke had met his teammates – this time visiting an Akamichi restaurant on outvoting Naruto and making an arrangement for not being bothered by taking one of the booths - and, as they kept each other up to date, he had given them a little summary. Sakura and Sasuke also had decided to keep helping Naruto out with henge shopping and set _another_ schedule for that.

Kami, if that went on, they might need to actually write down all these plans to just keep track!

When Naruto told them he had gotten the toad sannin to put a few more goodies into his training by bribing him with his 'forbidden technique', they were a bit embarrassed, but still able to share a good laugh. Even if Naruto finally had gotten a few bruises from Sakura, they all had to admit he deserved it this time, even Naruto himself.

When they discussed summoning, as Naruto told them about the old pervert's toads he met, they were moderately surprised when he portrayed them in a rather personable light and reminded them he actually liked these critters, showing off his old and dear 'gama-chan wallet'.

Still, Sasuke and Sakura remained steadfast in their opinion of preferring other creatures for summons. Sakura especially stated there would have to be a major event to make her even consider the idea of accepting a contract with slugs, snakes or other 'creepies'. Sasuke offering the idea of searching for a snake-eating summon like mongooses had their full support and engendered another round of laughter.

Once more, Sasuke simply enjoyed the atmosphere and wondered how he had spent half his life hating and brooding only to truly enjoy this feeling that much after barely a week.

He was embarassingly surprised to learn from a suddenly tearing-up Naruto how much the blond felt basically the same way with the biggest difference being his past situation of _forced_ loneliness and isolation.

He pondered whether telling him about what he found out would be a good thing and decided to confer with Sakura about that when the former nuisance, now an only somewhat annoying _friend_, took his leave for certain unavoidable demands of nature.

oOo

"Hmm. Sakura," Sasuke opened.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Do _you_ have any idea why almost everyone older than us seems to have some grudge against Naruto? Even the Akamichi here – okay, she wasn't actually hostile, but seemed concerned about the customers reactions. She seemed... relieved when we decided on this booth where almost no one can watch us."

Sakura shook her head. "No idea, only a few speculations. I remember only that my mom told me to stay away from him, others must have done that, too... I guess it might have to do with his family or something like that. Even if he is an orphan, he has a family name. I never heard about any Uzumakis, but if there was some seriously bad blood there before, it might be ostracization by association."

"You mean, the complete reverse how anybody has treated me all the time?" Sasuke asked, eyebrow quirked in sardonic ribbing.

"Oh... um... ah...," Sakura stammered in mortification. Sasuke calmed her by dismissing the remark, allowing her finally to confirm the comparison.

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, if we met, oh I don't know, the _kyuubi no youko_'s kid, we would be pretty apprehensive ourselves, wouldn't we?" Sakura pointed out. Neither of them noticed the shadow at the booth's corner freezing up.

Sasuke thought about that for a moment. Something about that example twinged somewhere inside him. He finally snorted and said: "The child of the monster fox? Naruto? No way the slacker would want to have anything to do with that thing."

Sakura giggled a bit. "Hell yeah, right. I just went for the most outrageous example I could think of," she snickered. "On the other hand, that _is_ the perfect example, now that I think of it." She suddenly became serious. "As you just said, no way our Naruto would _**want**__ to have anything to do with that_. And still, anyone he met who knew about it would judge him by that and not by himself. They would think of clans and teachers and _expect_ him to be like his parent."

"But since he doesn't even _know_ his family, there actually is no real reason for him to be like that unless it's physical, and even then...," Sasuke understood. But what was twitching there in his mind? It wasn't the voice, more like a half-remembered memory... he shrugged it off for now.

"Just as with me and the Uchiha clan, or - the Hyuuga clan. I heard Hinata is the heir to the clan, but since she is so..." he trailed off, fishing for the best word.

"Shy? Nice? Soft?" Sakura proposed, picking it up quickly.

"Yeah," he could go with that. "You have seen other Hyuuga, take this Neji for example. Heh, even the few times I met him the guy aggravated me, and we tried mostly to _ignore_ each other. Anyway, I heard recently Hinata supposedly doesn't project the right image for the clan, so they are planning to depose her, disown her or something like that. Going by what else I have heard, it doesn't sound like a simple or pleasant process. There was something about sealing, but In- I didn't get details." Sasuke elaborated, almost slipping the name of his in(o)formant.

Sakura huffed. "Yes, I can see that. I don't think she deserves something like that, though. I can't see how someone from that family could be – uh-" she broke off.

"Could be, let's call it, 'a fan' of our blond? I know, I know. I stood just beside you, remember?" Sasuke grinned crookedly, as they finally arrived at the topic he wanted.

"Um, yes," Sakura admitted, surprised Sasuke had actually noticed that. She didn't know, of course, that _Ino_ had literally spelled it out for him a few days before. "It's awfully sweet, actually, but if her clan knew it probably made her problem worse. Still, a shame Naruto is so oblivious."

"Yeah, he still only got eyes for you, doesn't he?" Sasuke teased, quoting a line he didn't fully know the purpose of. Oh god, what was he doing here?

He just had stopped one or two girls showering, no, drowning him with a kind of affection he never had been used to, and now he was dealing just in that kind of stuff without really understanding...

_The blind leading the dumb by the roadsign, effectively. Still, regarding the circumstances, an amazing job. _

"Bleh. I admit, now that we actually try to be friends he's not that bad anymore, but he still is too flaky for me. As a friend, okay, but anything else..." she drifted off and sent _him_ a dangerous look.

"Sasuke-kun..." she purred. Sasuke raised his hand defensively, sweatdropping.

"Please, Sakura, stop it," he pleaded. "Not to mention I still don't really understand why everyone female looks at me like a side of beef," Sakura blinked and blushed at that. What the...? He continued quickly: "I still feel much too messed up to deal with something like that. Look, if I _ever_ feel interest, you'll get to know first, I believe. Think about Naruto and Hinata instead for now. Do you think we should just tell him she likes him that much? Seriously."

Sakura blinked at the concept of _Sasuke-kun_ as matchmaker. Then she shrugged it off and took up the question as a problem to be solved, as she had done often since the academy and beyond.

"I don't know, let me think about it," she murmured. "There _would_ be some problems, I guess. But if he acted on it, he wouldn't try to crowd me anymore... Bleh, I guess thinking about it like that is just too mean. Okay, let's take it seriously."

Sasuke let her think, just listening as she slowly began to speak.

"Fact is, Hinata has been watching him from afar as long as I have known her, but she's so terribly shy she actually almost faints when he starts to notice her in any way. We all thought if we even tried to tease her she might just drop dead in embarrassment, I guess, so no one dared to before. That she managed to give him this salve pot as a gift amazed me, honestly. And she blushed so much when he just thanked her... The girl looks like a classic wallflower who hides herself without the least bit of confidence. I can't understand that, actually – you saw what she was capable of when I –uh- _motivated_ her. That girl, that technique – damn, I understand why anyone fears the _juuken_. That someone that good could be so withdrawn... If it were anybody else but_ Hyuuga_ Hinata I would give her up as a hopeless case, but if they could make it work..."

Sakura paused. "I could try to go systematically, but that would take a while. I'll just call the points as they come for now, so forgive me if I seem to ramble a bit," she said, closing her eyes. Sasuke just nodded. She didn't see the gesture, of course, but seemed to notice it anyway.

Sasuke had a small epiphany – if she was thorough enough and he perceptive enough, he might get at least a hint of what had been going on in all these girls' heads all this time! So he paid close attention to what she said - and how she was saying it.

"I believe, when we were younger, she once said she admired Naruto for his outgoing nature, confidence or something to that effect. I don't remember exactly, we were kids and not even in the same class then, heck, it might have been even before the academy. I think there was something else about Naruto, but I don't remember much from that time. Still, if anyone could benefit from having Naruto around it would be her. You know how he is, charge straight ahead and damn the consequences – and hell, he makes it actually work. In Wave, now that I think about it; in the forest – hell, even with his prelim fight. He really has confidence to burn, more than is good for him maybe. If he can make Hinata pick up just a little bit of that attitude it could do her a world of good. A problem might be if her clan, especially her father as clan head, thinks about Naruto like all these others. That could become ugly. But would he be good for her? I think so, if he understands what it is all about. That's a bit of a problem, actually. Naruto – I know now why he hounded me. He saw us hounding you," she smirked at Sasuke, who drew back a bit, "and copied us. We 'fangirls' were the only role model he had and he tried to- oh, I guess you know what I mean."

Eye-rolling, Sasuke nodded. Sakura pouted a bit, but continued.

"Potentially, if Naruto could pick up quite a bit from _Hinata_, she also could be good for him. She could teach him some tact and restraint, but she would have to get him to learn. That's another problem. I guess if anything could come from it, Hinata would have to learn from Naruto some confidence and energy first, _then_ she could teach him. That would be the only way I can see that working out without potential catastrophes."

"On the other hand, as I understand how these things are supposed to go and knowing Naruto, he _would_ be all around her at first, trying to cheer her up and get her to _do_ something, so that might come naturally. It's more a question of 'when' than 'if'," Sasuke added cautiously, not to give her the wrong idea.

"Point," Sakura agreed. "I just fear he might _swamp_ her, like he tried with me. The difference is Hinata would probably _like_ that. At least for a while. Well, if she _did_ regularly spend time with Naruto, she at least would know whether she _really_ liked him or if it is just a crush..." She suddenly trailed off.

"_Hell No!"_ Inner Sakura bellowed. _"I __**do**__ love Sasuke-kun, and he will notice sooner or later!"_

Kami, I sure hope so, but – Hell no! I'm his teammate, we'll spend time together, and – _WE_ will make it work. I won't give up just because of a stupid doubt!

Sakura finished the inner turmoil with a snap and returned to the topic at hand.

"Okay. Yeah. I think that's enough analysis. I guess we should tell Naruto about Hinata, we just have to find the right way and moment so he doesn't charge off and does something stupid..." She opened her eyes again and looked at Sasuke, who – just stared at her, no across her, with an expression of guilty shock on his face.

"Sasuke-kun, what-" The restaurant's door opened and closed with force, and as she bent outward and looked, she just saw a flash of yellow and orange. Wide-eyed herself, she turned back towards Sasuke.

"Was that-"

"Naruto. Apparently he stood just behind the edge of the curtain and was listening," Sasuke confirmed in a daze.

"Oh Kami! What did he look like? What does he think now?"

"I- I just don't know. I didn't actually see his face, when I noticed him he already had his back to us."

"C'mon! We have to track him and talk to him!" Sakura yelled, pulling Sasuke from his seat and after her.

"Waitamoment, gottapay, yougofirstI'llfindyou," Sasuke spat out, braking at the counter. Sakura let go and nodded, moving out.

"Phew. Okay, here, keep the change. Um – do you know how long our friend stood there at the corner?"

"A few minutes, he was done quickly and back again. I thought he was gonna prank ya," the girl admitted, smiling embarrassedly.

"Well, in a way he did. Bye." Sasuke followed Sakura as fast as reasonable.

So, he might have listened from the beginning? Us speculating about his family? Hm, something about that...

"_Want a reminder?"_

_Now_ you're butting in again? What reminder?

"_Wave mirrors... and a forest snake. You were close. I guess you're ready. Don't fnck this up."_

What the...

Sasuke could only shake his head in confusion as he leapt up to the roofs to follow Sakura, who – hopefully – was tracking Naruto.

Suddenly the memories _clicked_ together.

oOo

It was a merry hunt the blond led them on. Sasuke began to believe the stories Naruto had sometimes bragged with, him leading on fully trained ANBU teams for hours after some pranks. Okay, in that case he also might not really want to escape them, but lead them somewhere. Which, if his conclusion was true, might not be a bad idea. Fortunately, the population of Konoha was used to ninjas hurrying through the city over the roofs, so they were not creating a scene yet.

Even low on chakra and still tired from the day's training, they were able to travel quickly enough and stay alert enough to keep on Naruto's trail – barely. Fortunately, the slacker had not tried to actively distract followers with shadow clones or any other real effort – maybe even _he_ was tired and low on chakra, too? How hard _was_ Jiraiya training him really? Especially if Sasuke's moment of clarity was true...

I can't believe it, but it actually makes sense! How else could the perpetual dead last have that amount of power?

"_I won't affirm or deny your suspicions – that's Naruto's personal call - but power always has its price. And Naruto has seen that, too. Hard work, duties, pain, lost freedom... these are but simple samples of these prices. What price have you paid for power until now, and what would you be __**willing**__ to pay?"_

If you had asked me last week, I'd have said: Anything. Now I'm not so sure anymore.

"_Hmm. Have you a new reason to __**seek**__ power again at all?"_

Not sure of that either. And right now I'm not exactly in the position – leap, land, leap - for fundamental decisions.

"_Point. We'll discuss that once you are."_

Hrn. "Over there, Sakura." They leapt off the last roof and started the path up the mountain. "Any idea where he's going?"

"I've got an idea, Iruka-sensei once said – yeah, there he is, he has stopped."

Both slowed down together. Naruto – the orange henge in place, making both wonder for the reason so far from anyone else – sat balancing on the railing like a bird or cat, straight on the edge overlooking the Hokage monument. Right in the middle between the Third's and the Fourth's top. Should he lose his perch, he would fall straight down the distance, with almost no chance to catch himself on one of the stone faces unless he drifted back to the cliffside – which, due to the massive stoneworks in carving the memorial faces, was basically hollowed out and thus overhanging quite a bit. They usually would never expect even an academy student to just slip, but something what they had said and what Naruto had overheard had put the blond into a weird mood and none of them knew exactly what to expect, so they closed the distance slowly and carefully, unconsciously trying to avoid any threatening appearance – and also catching their breath a bit. They had heard some scary stories from others – fortunately that seemed all what they were, stories – about people jumping for one or another reason (or apparently none at all, as far as the teller knew), and even if it was ludicrous to expect something like that from Naruto, his reactions had brought uncertaincy upon them.

Without turning around, the spiky-haired blonde said: "I used to love the view from here. Still do, I guess."

Blinking at that _non sequitur_, his teammates stopped, barely three steps away, no more. Then, without a gesture or a word, they just stepped forward to the railing and framed Naruto on his sides, leaning on the old railing and, each with his or her own thoughts on the matter, taking in the view over Konoha too. It just felt right. No one spoke for a minute.

"Far removed from any _stupid people_, hm?" Sasuke broke the silence.

Naruto flinched, then rolled back and performed a clumsy stationary backflip, going from perching on the railing to leaning on it just like his teammates.

Sakura let out a relieved breath. "Why did you run, Naruto?" she calmly demanded.

Naruto looked guilty, avoiding real eye contact, but didn't run again. "I don't really know. I was... confused, I guess."

"By what exactly?" Sasuke inquired, also outwardly calm, too.

Naruto seemed to send him a probing look, while still keeping his face down. "I'm not certain. What do _you_ think?"

"I do think about a lot, the last few days even more than ever. But that's not _your_ answer," Sasuke replied.

"I'm sorry Naruto," Sakura said. The hectic hunt and guilty feelings made the rare apology slip out easily.

Now Naruto was surprised, noting the phrase so rarely heard from his teammates.

"For what, Sakura-chan? Talking about me behind my back? Heh, one isn't supposed to actually listen to something like that, I know, but there was nothing you should apologize for. And I guess that's what was so confusing." He crossed his arms on the railing and rested his chin on them.

"I think I understand what you mean," Sasuke slowly said. "We both have been not exactly friendly to you ever since academy, and even if we all suddenly just _decided_ to be friends you didn't really expect us to mean it, isn't it? Then you listen to us talking about you and you didn't hear what you secretly expected. Was it that?"

Oh yes, Sasuke could relate. He himself had fresh experience in hearing unexpected – and unwanted - things.

Naruto blinked – was he crying? – and nodded quietly.

"When you are talking about someone behind his back you usually talk about stuff he isn't supposed to hear, isn't that it? And usually that's pretty mean stuff, but you weren't mean about it. Okay, there was stuff I wouldn't have wanted to talk about, but it wasn't really mean. And you, and even Sakura... okay, I might have been a pest, but you were mean before. It just - it wasn't – I expected you still – at least a bit..." the words seemed to stick in his throat.

Sasuke and Sakura shared a guilty look.

"Oh man," Sasuke started, shaking his head. "The exam must have made us insane. We really have made a total turnaround, haven't we?"

"Heh, I guess so," Sakura added, tentatively smiling. "I haven't thought about it like that, but it's true. Less than a week and we actually don't want to pick on you anymore. If In- anyone told me that last week I would have called her crazy. Feels unreal, is that it? But it's as real as the whisker-marks on your face," she teased a bit, pinching the cheek she could reach, but not as hard as usual, not as a punishment, but just teasing.

Surprisingly, Naruto didn't complain with the expected 'Sakura-chaaan!', but rather seemed to freeze up. Sakura, surprised, let go and mumbled an apology.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was reminded of his deduction.

"What's with these anyway, slacker?" he asked, forcing a light tone. "I know you don't have family left, either, but are these birthmarks, clan tattoos, scars or what? I never looked that closely..."

Actually, he tried to imply with his tone that he suspected something, but whether Naruto noticed, or rather how he reacted, would be the important thing.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura scolded. "That was just a joke, wasn't it? Don't be silly."

"Actually," Sasuke started and grabbed the blonde boy by the back of his collar, "the joke hit closer than we thought, didn't it?"

Naruto looked shocked and frightened, but somewhere in his expression seemed to lurk simple resignation.

Sasuke hid his true feelings for the moment – practice makes perfect – and with the contemptuous smirk he had worn so often before began to casually brawl with the resisting fox-boy. His taijutsu abilities still were a lot better than Naruto's, and unless the blond suddenly popped out his army of clones, Sasuke was even more superior at grappling range, where Naruto usually reverted to childish brawling unless it was a real crisis situation. Sasuke hoped it wouldn't turn out looking that way.

"That's what's wrong, isn't it? That's why everybody seems to hate you. And that's why you could pull these stunts off in Wave and against Orochimaru, am I right? That's where this red chakra came from, and everybody thinks some time you'll snap or something and that's why, am I right? As if."

While he held and handled Naruto, deep inside Sasuke was afr- concerned. If the ones who hated and feared Naruto were actually right – No. No Way. The two of them might have hated each other – or rather, believed that, _he_ _knew_ what real hate felt like - but still, they also had saved each other when the chips were down, without really acknowledging it at these times.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you doing? What are you talking about? What do you mean?" Sakura just watched with wide eyes, while Naruto with each sentence panicked more and more. Sasuke let up the unskilled brawl a bit and just held on enough so Naruto wouldn't run away again without actually _fighting_ for it.

"Heh. I think I know. We were right, or at least close. Our dear teammate _has_ something about him which the _stupid people_ hate him for, and he's so used to it or even believes he deserves it that he doesn't care anymore," Sasuke explained.

"Come on, admit it, slacker, I'm right, ain't I?"

"HEY STOP IT BASTARD!" Naruto yelled, breaking the hold, but stumbling and falling down.

An unassuming shape, hidden in the nearby shadows of the groves, gasped quietly.

"Heh," Sasuke smirked, then surprisingly held out his hand to Naruto to help him up. Uncomprehending, Naruto took it.

"Well, am I right or not?" Sasuke dropped the smirk. "Whatever it is exactly, it can't be you. The Naruto I know may be brash, hyperactive, loud, annoying, stupid,..."

"Hey!" Naruto complained, provoking a giggle in Sakura.

"... but also stupidly brave, tenacious and all around surprising. If in some way you really are related to the Nine-Tails, YOU are who you are, not some monster or whatever the people think."

Naruto stared. He knew? No, he thought... what?

Sakura blinked, dumbstruck. The joke was no joke?

The shady figure strangled a gasp with her fists. The Uchiha hadn't been hurting her Naruto? He was _what_? Why in all heavens would anyone think him a monster?

"NO!" The blond yelled indignatedly. "I'm NOT the Kyuubi's kid! I'm just its cage, its jailer!" Suddenly he slapped his hands over his mouth. Uh oh.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, only to say a few seconds later, "Same difference."

Naruto blinked.

Sakura stared. Now _that_ was a surprise.

Hinata – for who else could it have been? – blinked and whispered 'Byakugan'. No way – correct, no trace of anything demonic-looking in him. Just the wonderful glow of his chakra coils, even as – proportionally – low on chakra as he currently was they were glowing so much brighter and deeper than anyone else's she had ever seen, the same beautiful shade as his bright blue eyes, only tempered by the filigree pattern in his chakra she so often could see on his stomach, which seemed to be an old and complex seal... of... some... kind?

"Just waiiit a mooment..." Sakura drawled. "The Yondaime was supposed to have _killed_ the demon, so what about that?"

Naruto frantically looked from Sasuke to Sakura and back. No escape, they wouldn't stop until they knew the rest. But he didn't see hate or fear – okay, maybe a bit fear in Sakura, but she wasn't running or screaming or yelling or anything...

"Oh, calm down, slacker. No one of us is suddenly going to sell you bad stuff for inflated prices," Sasuke deadpanned. Naruto stared at him and sat down, hard. His legs just didn't seem to be there at the moment. Maybe they had run away already and forgotten to take him with them? Oh, no, that didn't work that way and oh, there they were. Okay, back to the point. Oh, yes, amazement.

"Sasuke, was that a... joke?"

Sasuke buried his face in his palm. The gesture, unfamiliar as it was, simply felt right for some reason.

"I tried. Don't blame me for only having Naruto and Kakashi as role models or examples."

Everyone present blinked and sweatdropped. Then they decided to simply ignore it.

"Oh, well, I guess the cat – or rather the fox - is out of the bag then, isn't it?" Naruto sighed. "And now you want the whole story?"

"Hell yeah!"

"I'd say so."

Hinata, still hidden – or so she believed – nodded.

Naruto sighed again.

"Oh well, short version (can't remember the longer version anyway): The Yondaime didn't, couldn't, kill the Kyuubi, it being just a mass of chakra, but sealed it in a newborn baby, and that was me. He sacrificed his life for that. So now I'm a living prison for the biggest, baddest, evilest and probably ugliest demon in the world. So there. And the villagers mostly think I'm it somehow, or its recarnation or something, but jiji- the Hokage forbade them to kill me, so they just fear and hate me. Now that I know why I don't blame them too much for the way they treat me, but I don't think I deserve it, no-"

"No you don't – eep," a squeak interrupted, making them snap around and look.

Sakura palmed her face and just said: "Of course. I should have guessed. You can come out, Hinata, we won't hurt you - or Naruto, for that matter. The idiot is much too simple to be the reINcarnation of an evil demon anyway," she couldn't help but correct.

"Gee, thanks, Sakura-chan."

Caught, Hinata shyly stepped out of the shadow, pushing her fingers together in embarrassment. "Um, sorry, I didn't... mean to... eavesdrop, but... I was just, um, already here when you came up, and, um, I didn't want to intrude..." she trailed off again, hiding her face in her hood. She didn't want to admit she had been here because she knew it was one of Naruto-kun's favorite places...

"Oi, Hinata-chan, no problem, if you heard just now you have to hear this now too," Naruto waved her over, ignoring her sudden blush (He called her Hinata-_chan_? _Happy_...).

"It would be a big problem if you didn't," he added seriously.

Then he continued: "Okay, this is important. The Old Man made a law when I was born, so no one was allowed to talk about the Kyuubi and that it was imprisoned in me, except in private and with others who know already. He made it an S-class secret, if you will, and anyone breaking that law will be killed, so don't tell anyone of the others. I myself am allowed to talk about it, of course, but I didn't know at all until the last day of the academy, the genin exam night, and I guess you understand why I didn't want to talk about it anyway. Believe me, I am not the demon fox."

"Hrn," Sasuke smirked, "I just told you, no one who knows you would ever believe _that_."

Hinata quickly nodded and blushed. "No way you are a demon, Naruto-kun."

"Heh, if he were I'd be really embarrassed for Konoha as a whole, if it were still standing anyway," Sakura stated.

"Huh? Whaddaya mean, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Simple, if you _were_ a demon and all the villagers treated you like refuse why would anyone who did that still be alive? Even if you were limited to a human body, you _were_ trained in the academy as a ninja, and even a genin could kill the typical civilian easily and secretly, so you could just take your revenge if you were evil. Hey, I'd expect in that case your stupid behavior were a mask and in reality you were an amazing ninja, almost as good as Sasuke-kun," who looked somewhat pained, "and just hiding it so no one would ever suspect you."

Naruto shuddered. "Please don't joke about such things, Sakura-chan."

I _have_ had such thoughts before, he thought, I just never could hate them back _that_ much. Even if I came close sometimes...

"Hey, but what's with the red chakra, by the way?" Sasuke asked, snapping his fingers.

"Oh, umm, yeah, that's the Kyuubi's chakra. When I'm really angry and stuff it comes out and something happens. The old pervert – Jiraiya - says the seal is supposed to let me use its chakra when I need it or something like it, and that when I get older I get better with it, and when I get old enough I might have taken enough of the demons chakra that nothing is left and the fox finally is dead forever or something like that. But if you can believe it, he also says I need to use a whole lot of it for... something, but the damn beast won't let me."

"Heh. I guess you'll have to learn how to show it who's the boss then," Sasuke slipped into his old arrogant mask again and formed a royally condescending smirk.

"Um, Naruto-kun?" Hinata blushed again when everyone looked at her. "Eep."

"What is it, Hinata-chan?"

"Um, if Jiraiya-sama is trying to teach you to- to draw out the Kyuubi chakra, can you do that already- if only a bit?" She had deciphered what Naruto had tried to describe. "I'd- like to know how it- looks."

"It's red and it feels evil," Sasuke drily described. "Except for the color almost the same as..." he drifted off. "Sorry, I think I'm not supposed to talk about that."

"Is it a S-class secret too?" Sakura just asked.

"Um, not that I know of..." Sasuke had to admit.

"Then you could tell us too, Sasuke-kun. Naruto has told us his secret, won't you share yours - now?"

"Um – well, if Naruto can demonstrate for us first, we'll see," He deflected.

Named blond scratched his head. "Okay, we're pretty alone up here, but if anything goes wrong..."

"Just don't overdo it, Naruto," Sakura raised her hands defensively. "We don't want you to go all out, I guess Hinata just wants to see a flicker to compare, right?" She looked questioningly at the Hyuuga heiress, who nodded.

Naruto sighed. "Okay, I'll try." He moved away from the cliff's edge a good distance and concentrated. Hinata activated her Byakugan and gazed at him.

"I usually can call on it only if I'm out of chakra or seriously upset, but ero-sennin has worked me quite hard today, so..." he focused with all his will, scrunching his face up in a manner Sakura found quite amusing.

- PFFFRRRRRRRT! -

... Instead of evil demonic chakra, just an evil, infernal smell arose.

"GAH! Naruto!" Sakura retched, moving upwind.

Sasuke felt by now quite comfortable with his hand on his face. "Nice going, dumbass. If they ever get around to checking your elemental chakra aptitude I'm so being **not** surprised if you're a wind element." He tried to wave away the almost visible cloud.

Hinata blushed like the setting sun, but couldn't quite suppress a decidedly ignoble giggle.

"M-maybe if you just don't try quite that hard...?" She offered, inconspicuously retreating deeper into her jacket. It _was_ adorably funny, but still very pungent...

Naruto quivered between copying Hinata's complexion and just scratching his neck in embarrassment and laughing helplessly. "Um, sorry?"

Shortly, he tried again and managed to get a short flicker of reddish chakra.

"Okay, the fart was worse," the pinkette stated, not very impressed.

Suppressing a sharp look at Sakura, Hinata offered: "It feels evil, yes, but the way it mixes with your own chakra... when it stopped, for a moment your chakra turned a beautif- a shade of purple before it turned pure blue again."

She almost had swallowed the much-too-forward descriptor, but only almost. Sakura gave her a teasing smile, which made Hinata blush again. Traitorous capillaries!

Naruto seemed oblivious as ever to this slip of the tongue, but Sasuke, who remembered their topic when the blond had fled, believed he caught Naruto taking notice of it. He probably just didn't know how to deal with it, he didn't have the Uchiha's tendency and years of practice in coldly ignoring these things – which he by the way had started feeling a bit conflicted about by now, but only a bit.

"You _like_ that stuff?" Sakura asked incredulous.

"No, no, it's not that, its just..." Hinata stammered, "it has a cer- certain flair about it, a feeling of power, even if it's evil..." She fought to express her meaning, "like Ibiki-san," or father, or some of the elders, "he is so terribly scarred, and very, very frightening, but he was just so im- impressive, do you understand what I mean?"

"Oh," Sakura admitted. "Yeah, I guess none of us will forget this guy anytime soon, right?" Everyone nodded.

Then Sakura put on a determined face. "Okay, Sasuke-kun, your turn."

Sasuke blinked, then nodded with a sigh. "Just don't ask _me_ to demonstrate, okay? I don't think I could control that... _thing_."

Then he explained: "Hinata-san, have you heard what our team encountered in the Forest of Death, or rather, whom?" The Hyuuga heiress shook her head in negation.

Then, to the girl's horrified surprise, he started to describe their encounter and how he got an unwanted seal himself, and Sakura delivered her part of describing his awakening after days of unconsciousness.

"Can you see it with your _Byakugan_?" he asked, vaguely pointing at his neck. The shy girl activated her bloodline and nodded after a few seconds.

"It l-looks a bit like a thorny s-spiral carved from onyx t-to my eyes, and in op-opposition to Naruto-kun's seal I can see a shimmer that f-feels like that black chakra you d-described below that. I b-believe I felt it while s-still in the forest too, e-even over this hu-huge distance, but my team was in a hu-hurry, so I wasn't sure."

"Heh, I can imagine. That creep tried to get at me with the promise of power, but if it turns me into an uncontrolled berserker and uses up my body or puts me under _his_ control I don't care for that."

At that part, Hinata visibly (to him) flinched.

What's with her? Sasuke thought.

"_Hyuuga clan politics. The control issue hit close to home,"_ the voice explained.

Hmm... interesting.

"And the only good thing that came from that is that I rudely learned power has a price, and I don't think I'm willing to pay 'any price' anymore," the Uchiha closed. Naruto nodded somberly in agreement.

"These kinds of seals seem to be nothing but trouble," Sakura commented.

Hinata reflexively nodded. "It looks like Mitarashi-san's too..." she mumbled unthinking, her attention otherwise occupied (She sat together with Naruto-kun, and his teammates - who weren't trying to hurt him anymore, either. _Bliss_...)

Sasuke, though, immediately picked up the reference. "There's someone in Konoha with the same kind of seal as I?"

Hinata flinched. "Oh - sorry – I shouldn't have mentioned it," she stuttered, "we're not supposed to t-talk about what we can see on others without their p-permission, that's considered r-rude..."

Glaring at Naruto as the blond poked him in the ribs with a displeased expression, Sasuke tried to apologize. "I didn't intend to snap at you, Hinata-san. But you understand how that is important to me? So this Mitarashi has such a curse seal too? Who is that anyway? I think I remember the name, but..."

"Um, Sasuke-kun, that was the proctor for the second exam, that crazy woman in the trenchcoat. Mitarashi Anko."

"Ah!" Sasuke remembered. "I remember now. The name Anko stuck, but somehow I didn't recall the rest."

Wasn't she involved in the discussions about Orochimaru? Didn't Kakashi say something about that?

"_Not explicitly. But she is in a very similar situation as you in regard to the curse seal. Only completely opposite in a way, too..."_ the voice said, deciding to reveal more. _"The main difference is Orochimaru was her sensei until he went off, she was a guinea pig for the first batch of seals, and he dropped her like a hot potato afterwards. Jerk. If he had stayed loyal, she would probably have, too, to him, but he betrayed her and now she hates him as much as you hated Itachi, if not more."_

"I guess I'll have to talk to her about that," he said aloud again.

"Are you crazy? This crazy snake lady is _dangerous_," Naruto yelled.

"But she might be the best and maybe only source I have for finding out more about this seal. If this snake jerk wants me for- whatever, he'll be back or send someone else. I _need_ to know more," Sasuke replied, massaging his shoulder. Not that the seal actually hurt, the voice obviously had gone good work in aiding Kakashi in sealing the thing - _"Thanks for acknowledging my work,"_ it commented drily – but the thought alone irritated him.

Also, it had gotten late – again – and he was tired. And far from home. Stupid emo blond. Oops. Yeah, yeah, pot-kettle-black, I know. I can feel you smirking.

"Oh well, I'll have to try another day anyway. If you don't mind, I'm going home for today. Hm... do you have training tomorrow? Kakashi's given me a free day."

"Dunno, I'll have to look whether the perv is there at all," Naruto said. "Half-day," interjected Sakura, prompting Hinata to add her schedule. "Um, Kurenai-sensei set a half-day too, but she wanted to talk about separate training also, plus..." she winced as she rose. "F-father wants to train me later..."

"Ok, let's meet for dinner or something then, good bye for now," Sasuke decided and left, while Sakura seemed to have taken notice of Hinata's flinch and started to probe. Naruto just waved, suddenly flanked by the two girls – now when had _that_ happened, exactly? – and unable to move without having to shove at least one of them away.

Hehe, Sakura might take the situation in her own hands already. Better her than him, Sasuke thought, relieved, and sped away before she could involve him.

Curiosity fair enough, but he felt seriously stressed out from hanging out with _two_ girls _and_ Naruto, friendly and all, there and then. It would take some more time to break from his old solitary habits for good, not just acting.

oOo

_("It gets harder to evaluate him. I'm certain I felt a flare of jealousy when the Kyuubi's chakra was mentioned, but he kept his conscious thoughts under control. Now, is that a good or a bad sign? *Sigh* The boy keeps confusing me.")_

oOo

AN: And there leaves Sasuke, and since the 'camera' usually is on him, we leave too. While Hinata, Sakura and Naruto stay. And Sakura seems to take control of the opportunity. Ain't I a stinker, leaving here?

No, you won't get a live scene of that. But you'll read about it later, don't worry too much. Besides, I guess you have a pretty good idea already, don't you?

Gaah, more that twelve pages dialogue, almost nothing else... oh well, I was on a roll. Maybe I could have done better, but that's not quite my style. These kinds of scenes just flow, and if I don't just hate what I wrote, I'll keep it.

Didn't anything else of relevance happen in this time?

We'll see... ^^ And Sasuke's _**Log**_ will continue...

AN PS: Unfortunately, at this moment in time I have almost completely lost my buffer of already completed chapters, so the next updates will slow down. Expect the next part to be very late, and unless I get the inspiration to fill my buffer again, further parts will be even later, maybe monthly for a while. Damn, I guess the training month _will_ take more than a month to work through. Sorry.

(Minor Edits 27. Aug. 2013  
>Edit PS: Well, it has been nearly 2 years by now since I wrote this, but I don't consider the story abandoned yet. There have just happened... things... in that time which robbed me of the will to continue. But I just reread my whole work again, catching a few typos and wordings I don't like anymore, so chances are good I can get my mojo up and running again somewhat soon. Hopefully.)<p>

oOo

Micro-Omake:

"Narutobi is a good boy! Believe it!" The blond in the red swirly-mask gave the 'good guy pose', his eye twinkling brightly.

"AAAHHHH!" With a scream, Kakashi woke.

oOo

Next: Raven Chatter Part Eight: Four Weeks of Fun, Part Four

The Raven is not always solitary. In english, a group of Ravens is called an Unkindness; of crows, a murder. Why is this so, and what would _you_ prefer?

Oh well, he probably would have to put actual _effort_ into finding a new goal to obsess over strongly enough, Sasuke thought with wry humor.

oOo


End file.
